January 6th Attack on US Capitol Archives - Just Security

Stewart Rhodes Should Get No Leniency For Leading Anti-Government Paramilitary Group

Mary B. McCord — Wed, 24 May 2023 16:00:39 +0000

On Thursday, Stewart Rhodes, the founder and leader of the Oath Keepers, is due to be sentenced for seditious conspiracy and other crimes related to his role in the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. The government has asked the judge to sentence Rhodes to 25 years. Rhodes is asking for “time served”—the roughly 16 months he was detained before trial. The delta between these requests is vast. But even more striking is that Rhodes argues “perhaps one of the most important factors” supporting his request for leniency is his founding and leadership of the Oath Keepers – the very organization whose members, alongside Rhodes, have been convicted for conspiring to use force to prevent the counting of the Electoral College ballots on January 6.

As Rhodes tells it, “If the history and character of a man is to be judged by what he creates and how that organization functions within and for the benefit of society, then it is imperative that the Court give great deference to Mr. Rhodes for the 12 years of service and dedication of the Oath Keepers, as evinced through the organizations’ [sic] history of community involvement and volunteerism in times of natural disasters and civil unrest.” The revisionist history that follows that statement is belied by the many lawless anti-government actions that have been the hallmark of the Oath Keepers over the last decade.

The Oath Keepers self-describe as “a non-partisan association of current and formerly serving military, police, and first responders … who pledge to fulfill the oath all military and police take to ‘defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic,’” while declaring that they “will not obey unconstitutional orders.” Led by Rhodes, the paramilitary organization has frequently mobilized—heavily armed—against what they apparently have deemed “unconstitutional orders.”

This includes participating in the armed standoff against federal agents in Bunkerville, Nevada in 2014 to forcibly prevent the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from removing rancher Cliven Bundy’s cattle from federal lands where they had been illegally grazing for decades. The standoff ended with federal agents backing down in the face of sniper rifles trained at their heads.

The record of the Oath Keepers also includes the armed defense of two gold miners in Oregon to whom BLM had issued notice that their mining was not an allowed use of the property. The record includes the paramilitary group’s armed defense of miners in Montana after the Forest Service raised concerns about the miners’ claim and their unapproved construction on Forest Service land. And it includes participating in the 41-day armed occupation of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in Oregon in 2016 in opposition to the imprisonment of two ranchers convicted of arson for setting fire to federal lands. That standoff resulted in the death of one of the leaders of the occupation, and the Oath Keepers threatening the federal government with civil war.

But you wouldn’t know about any of this armed opposition to federal authorities by reading Rhodes’s sentencing memorandum. Instead, you’d read about the Oath Keepers participating in “humanitarian and security efforts” in Texas after Hurricane Harvey, and “providing security details and services” during civil unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, after the police killing of Michael Brown. Never mind that private, unsanctioned militias have no authority to engage in law enforcement functions, or that, in Ferguson, local authorities were forced to intervene and demand that the Oath Keepers stop their operations after they began “walking the rooftops of businesses” with “semi-automatic rifles,” in violation of county ordinances.

You also wouldn’t know from Rhodes’s memorandum that in the midst of the first impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump, Rhodes used Twitter to argue that under the U.S. Constitution, “the militia (that’s us) can be called forth ‘to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions.’ … “All he has to do is call us up. We WILL answer the call.” Another tweet made clear that the Oath Keepers’ “favorite rifle is the AR 15.”

Rhodes’s insurrectionist ideology wasn’t new.

In 2018, he launched a “Spartan Training Group program” to create “a pool of trained, organized volunteers who will be able to serve as the local militia under the command of a patriotic governor loyal to the Constitution, or if called upon by President Trump to serve the nation.” By early 2020, concerned that Virginia’s newly “blue” state legislature would pass gun regulations, Rhodes announced that the Oath Keepers would “deploy” to Virginia to help sheriffs “raise and train an official armed posse in each county” to resist the allegedly unconstitutional actions of the Democratic governor. (For more on the historical record, see the letter we submitted to the federal court for the purpose of sentencing.)

In light of this history, it is no surprise that Rhodes led the Oath Keepers in pre-planning and attempting an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol when their preferred candidate failed to win enough electoral votes. He should get no credit for founding the very organization that has repeatedly taken up arms against the government and threatened law enforcement authorities.

Photo credit: Department of Justice

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How Trump’s CNN Town Hall Remarks Put Him in Greater Legal Peril for Jan. 6 Investigations

Tom Joscelyn — Fri, 12 May 2023 16:05:50 +0000

During a town hall event on CNN Wednesday night, former President Donald Trump made multiple incriminating remarks about his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Trump’s responses will further hurt his case should Special Counsel Jack Smith charge the former president in connection with his role in the attack on the U.S. Capitol and other attempts to hold onto power unlawfully. Trump’s statements were also valuable to Fulton County DA Fani Willis in her investigation and possible prosecution.

Consider what Trump had to say about former Vice President Pence. CNN’s Kaitlan Collins pointed out that Pence has blamed Trump for endangering his life. Trump interjected with a lie. “I don’t think he was in any danger,” Trump claimed.

That is clearly false. Some of Trump’s followers erected a hangman’s gallows outside of the Capitol. And the mob chanted, “Hang Mike Pence! Hang Pence!” Shortly after the Capitol was breached, Secret Service agents had to whisk Pence away to safety (which Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Al) told Trump as it happened). Even so, the rioters came within 40 feet of the vice president.

The main reason the rioters focused their anger at Pence was because Trump repeatedly told them that the vice president had the power to alter the outcome of the election. That is where Trump’s statements Wednesday night were important from a legal perspective.

Trump stated: Pence “did something wrong. He should have put the votes back to the state legislatures. I think we would have had a different outcome, I really do.” The reason that puts the former president in legal jeopardy is because Trump’s own legal adviser (John Eastman) admitted during an Oval Office meeting that the Electoral Count Act would not allow Pence to take such action. Trump’s remarks on CNN provide additional evidence that he does not and did not care about the scope of Pence’s actual legal authority. (One of the tells is that Trump told Collins it was Pence’s lawyers who said the proposal violated the Electoral Count Act, when the record is clear that Trump’s legal adviser also said that it did.)

The audience, made up primarily of Republican-leaning voters, loudly applauded Trump’s statement of what Pence should have done – but they were cheering for lawlessness and lies, whether they knew it or not.

To understand why, some brief context is in order — namely, this passage from Chapter 5 of the Select Committee’s final report (footnotes omitted) describing a key meeting in the Oval Office with the president, vice president, and their respective legal advisers:

On January 4, 2021, President Trump summoned Vice President Pence to a meeting in the Oval Office with John Eastman, a law professor representing President Trump in litigation challenging the election result. Eastman argued, on President Trump’s behalf, that the Vice President could take matters into his own hands during the joint session on January 6th. Eastman offered Vice President Pence two options. First, the Vice President could unilaterally reject the certified electors from several States won by former Vice President Biden, thereby handing the presidency to President Trump. Or, according to Eastman, Vice President Pence could delay the joint session to give State legislatures the opportunity to certify new electors loyal to the President. Eastman admitted, in front of the president, that both options violated the Electoral Count Act of 1887, the statute that sets forth the process for counting and disputing electoral votes during the joint session. Eastman admitted as much in a subsequent conversation with the Vice President’s staff as well.

Therefore, President Trump knew, or should have known, that this scheme was illegal—in fact, it violated the Electoral Count Act and the U.S. Constitution. President Trump repeatedly demanded that Vice President Pence go through with it anyway.

And Wednesday night on CNN, Trump repeated his illegal demand. We know from Vice President Pence’s book and other evidence that Trump and Eastman tried to get Pence to take the first option as well – that is, to unilaterally reject electors from the swing states and hand the victory to Trump. Here is how Pence writes about that same January 4, 2021, meeting in his book, So Help Me God (emphasis added):

Eastman argued that I had the authority to simply direct that electoral certificates not be counted and instead order that they be returned to the states until each state legislature certified which of the competing slate of electors for the state was correct. It was the first time I had ever heard anyone suggest that we send votes back to the states. The president and many of his defenders later repeatedly made the case that that was all I had ever been asked to do. It wasn’t.

Since I had already confirmed that there were no legitimate competing electors, I was tempted to dismiss Eastman’s proposal out of hand, but I let him drone on. He repeatedly qualified his argument with the words that it was just a legal theory, and I decided it was necessary to press him in front of the president. I was seated in my usual chair to the right of the president near the Resolute Desk, and Eastman was in the next chair to my right. I turned to him and asked, “Do you think I have the authority to reject or return votes?”

He stammered, “Well, it’s never been tested in the courts, so I think it is an open question.”

At that I turned to the president, who was distracted at the time, and said, “Mr. President, did you hear that?” He turned his attention to me, and I said, “Even your lawyer doesn’t think I have the authority to return the electoral votes.” The president nodded. As Eastman tried to get out some explanation, the president replied, “I like the other thing better,” presumably referring to his previous opinion that I could simply choose to reject electoral votes altogether.

According to Pence, therefore, Trump acknowledged during the Jan. 4, 2021 meeting that the vice president didn’t have the legal authority to return electoral votes back to the states. Yet, Trump still demanded that he do so (and defended that unlawful option again on CNN). Trump went even further in also pressuring Pence to reject electoral votes outright (the more radical option).

There’s much more evidence concerning Trump’s pressure campaign against his own vice president. But he further damaged himself last night when it comes to that part of the criminal case.

The former president’s responses to other January 6-related questions were problematic as well. One audience member asked, “Will you pardon the January 6 rioters who were convicted of federal offenses?”

Trump responded: “I am inclined to pardon many of them. I can’t say for every single one because a couple of them probably got out of control.” He then pivoted to whataboutism-style talking points concerning Antifa.

Collins followed up, asking if Trump would even consider pardons for the four members of the Proud Boys who were convicted of seditious conspiracy and other charges earlier this month.

“I don’t know, I’d have to look at their case,” Trump replied. “But I will say, in Washington, D.C. you cannot get a fair trial. You cannot.”

It is not surprising that Trump dangled the prospect of pardons for convicted January 6th rioters. He has done so before. But now he has added the convicted Proud Boys to his list of potential pardons. And that is even more troubling. As the Department of Justice has explained, the four convicted felons “directed, mobilized, and led a group of Proud Boys and other members of the crowd onto the Capitol grounds, leading to dismantling of metal barricades, destruction of property, breaching of the Capitol building, and assaults on law enforcement.” They were the spearhead for the attack.

Following the attack on the Capitol, Trump wanted to say he would issue a blanket pardon of the rioters, but White House lawyers strongly objected, and no such statement was made. Suffice it to say, Trump’s remarks on CNN exceeded what any reasonable defense lawyer would advise him.

In another potentially incriminating exchange, Trump acknowledged his own power over the mob.

Collins asked: “Why did you wait three hours to tell them to leave the Capitol? They listen to you like no one else. You know that.”

“They do, I agree with that,” Trump said, before trying to shift the blame to then Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Mayor Muriel Bower.

This is potentially important because it demonstrates, again, that Trump was aware that he could have told the mob to go home earlier and ended the insurrection, prevented further damage to the Capitol and harm to the police. The former president and his defenders like to point to a few tweets, issued during the attack at 2:38pm and 3:13pm, in which he told his followers “to support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement” and to “Stay Peaceful!” But in neither of those tweets did the president tell the crowd to go home. (People close to the president, including his son Donald Trump Jr., pleaded for the president to say more.) He could have acted much sooner, just as Collins claimed, and many of the rioters would have listened.

It was not until 4:17pm that Trump released a video calling for rioters to go home in “peace.” Even then, however, he endorsed their cause. “I know your pain, I know you’re hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us,” President Trump said at the outset of his video. “It was a landslide election, and everyone knows it, especially the other side.”

On CNN, Trump said he was “very proud of that video” because it was a “great video” and a “beautiful video.”

Nor does the legal harm Trump did himself stop there. He also reaffirmed that he would make the damning Jan. 2, 2021 call to Brad Raffensperger again, despite the fact that it may lead to criminal charges by Fulton County DA Fani Willis this summer (and possibly by the Justice Department as well). That is important because it shows he is unrepentant, which is an added incentive for the DA to seek accountability (not as if she needed one).

Moreover, Trump also provided a window into his intent by vehemently insisting that it was a perfect phone call. As a matter of law, it absolutely was not. Once the election had been certified, as it was, that constituted electoral vigilantism and apparent criminal activity to overturn the election in Georgia.

Over the coming months, we should expect more talk along these lines from the former president. The bottom line is that he has accepted no responsibility for January 6th, he portrays the extremists and rioters who attacked the Capitol as victims, and he tries to shift blame onto others, even while recognizing that the mob was his.

IMAGE: Reporters watch a CNN town hall with former US President and 2024 Presidential hopeful Donald Trump at St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, on May 10, 2023. (Photo by JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images)

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Just Security Podcast: A Guilty Verdict in the Proud Boys Trial

Paras Shah — Fri, 05 May 2023 03:58:18 +0000

On May 4, 2023, a jury in Washington, D.C. found four Proud Boys leaders, including former Chairman Enrique Tarrio, guilty of seditious conspiracy for their roles in the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The Proud Boys were the “tip of the spear” in planning and carrying out the January 6th attack. They tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden. To help us understand what the verdict means, what’s missing, and what comes next, we have Tom Joscelyn and Mary McCord.

Tom was a senior staff member on the House January 6th Committee and a lead drafter of its final report. He is a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Reiss Center on Law and Security at NYU School of Law. Mary is Executive Director of the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection and a Visiting Professor at Georgetown University Law Center. She previously held senior national security roles at the Justice Department. Mary is a member of Just Security’s Editorial Board.

Listen to the podcast (transcript available as well) by clicking below.

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Introduction to Expert Statements on Democracy and Political Violence, submitted to January 6th House select committee

Jacob Glick — Mon, 01 May 2023 12:51:26 +0000

During the course of the January 6th House Select Committee’s work, investigative staff received dozens of statements from leading experts in law, academia, and other research. Although only some of these expert statements were ultimately cited in the Select Committee’s hearings and final report, many others helped to contextualize our work as we sought to uncover the full truth behind the attack on our democracy. The individuals and organizations who submitted these statements came from a broad range of disciplines and backgrounds, and therefore approached the events of January 6, 2021 from vastly different angles. Nevertheless, their statements coalesce in a single, frightening call to alarm, which warns us that former President Donald Trump’s attack on the rule of law and the ensuing insurrection was not an isolated event. Instead, the experts show that it should be seen as an inflection point in a violent, anti-democratic movement that has deep roots in America’s own history of racist violence and far-right extremism and fits within global patterns of political violence and lurches toward authoritarianism.

In collecting some of these statements and launching this collection, Just Security is providing an invaluable resource to all Americans, and others beyond, who still seek a more holistic understanding of January 6th, and who want to explore what the sobering conclusions of the Select Committee might mean for the future of our democracy.

First and foremost, these statements help to place the insurrection as part of a dark, American tradition of mob violence that has repeatedly tried to nullify the electoral triumph of multiracial coalitions and attack governments that support equal rights for Black Americans. Statements such as those from Professors Carol Anderson, Kellie Carter Jackson, Kate Masur, Gregory Downs, and Kathleen Belew, provide historical analysis and specific examples—ranging from Reconstruction to the modern white power movement—that demonstrates the continuity between January 6th and previous vigilante attempts to beat back progress toward a more inclusive and racially equitable America.

Other statements, like those from leaders at prominent, nonpartisan institutes like the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Brennan Center, States United Democracy Center, and Campaign Legal Center, explain how this history of racial violence and disenfranchisement is intimately bound up in President Trump’s Big Lie, which singles out largely non-white cities as centers of voter fraud and has since been used as a justification for further restrictions on voting rights that disproportionately impact Black and Brown citizens. Related analyses we received explained how key actors in the insurrection were motivated by a toxic brew of racism, homophobia, misogyny, xenophobia, and conspiracy – the same beliefs that continue to motivate acts of mass violence and intimidation across the country. In a statement from the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection (where I now work), Professor Mary McCord explains how January 6th also fits into a yearslong trend of increased mobilization by unlawful private paramilitary groups, which have continued to evolve since the attack.

Even more broadly, these assorted statements give a global perspective on the anti-democratic coalition that burst forth on January 6th. Leading experts on authoritarianism and fascism, such as Professors Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Jason Stanley, and Federico Finchelstein, remind us of the stakes of January 6th as a moment when vigilante violence and authoritarian schemes converged to assert control over democratic society, as we have seen replicated, in one form or another, throughout history to catastrophic effect. This moment of autocratic consolidation was enabled by a broader acceptance of political violence by mainstream politicians and their supporters, a phenomenon that is elucidated by experts like Rachel Kleinfeld and Professors Liliana Hall Mason and Nathan Kalmoe.

These statements can also help to shine a light on some of the less-examined elements of the broader story of January 6th, such as explanations of the role of Christian Nationalism and anti-government extremism in the attack, the FBI’s persistent failures to adequately address the threat of far-right violence, the crisis of extremist radicalization within the U.S. military, and the proliferation of violent, conspiratorial content on alternative social media platforms like Parler. Taken together, these expert analyses should help us reject narrow explanations for the insurrection, especially the kind that attempts to whitewash the violent extremism we saw on that day and try to sweep over the true, violent potential of the movements that fueled it.

The legacy of January 6th remains a fiercely contested issue, and it is vitally important that supporters of American democracy still speak loudly and clearly about the realities of that day. This collection will help us do just that, by providing explanations about why the insurrectionist forces have lingered on in our national life, through continued threats of political violence and anti-democratic instability. Over two years after the attack, groups like the Proud Boys continue to menace local governments and LGBTQ+ individuals, while an openly vengeful Trump embraces the insurrectionists and demonizes the same minority communities that are now in their crosshairs.

Seen in this light, January 6th never ended.

We are in the midst of the latest retelling of a very old, very dangerous story of authoritarianism and violence that both America and the world has seen before. That makes it all the more important for us to push for accountability whenever and wherever we can, and to guard against the resurgence of political violence as the next national election looms ever closer.

I hope that experts will continue to submit their statements to Just Security (email address) so that it can create as complete a repository as possible. Although they were not all incorporated into the work of the Select Committee, these statements give essential context to complement the factual narrative contained in the committee’s final report and underlying documents. As shocking as that narrative remains, it is even more terrifying when examined in this wider lens. Because of this, I know the collection will foster a deeper understanding of the insurrection and illuminate its most difficult lessons, which is the best way to ensure that January 6th is remembered as a wake-up call to the bipartisan alliance that saved American democracy, and not as the triumphant first chapter of an extreme coalition eager to destroy it.

Editor’s note: The expert statements on this topic are listed below and also available at Just Security’s January 6th Clearinghouse.

Carol Anderson (Charles Howard Candler Professor, African American Studies, Emory University)
“The Role of White Rage and Voter Suppression in the Insurrection on January 6, 2021″
Expert Statement
Anti Defamation League
“Extremist Movements and the January 6, 2021 Insurrection”
Expert Statement
Heidi Beirich (Co-Founder and Executive Vice President, Global Project Against Hate and Extremism)
“The Role of the Proud Boys in the January 6th Capitol Attack and Beyond”
Expert Statement
Kathleen Belew (Associate Professor of History, University of Chicago)
Expert Statement
Ruth Ben-Ghiat (Professor of History, New York University)
“Strongmen Don’t Accept Defeat: The January 6th, 2021, Assault on the Capitol as an Outcome of Donald J. Trump’s Authoritarian Presidency”
Expert Statement
Bright Line Watch
John Carey (John Wentworth Professor in the Social Sciences, Dartmouth College), Gretchen Helmke (Thomas H. Jackson Distinguished University Professor, University of Rochester), Brendan Nyhan (James O. Freedman Presidential Professor, Dartmouth College) and Susan Stokes (Tiffany and Margaret Blake Distinguished Service Professor, University of Chicago)
“The Destructive Effects of President Trump’s Effort to Overturn the 2020 Election”
Expert Statement
Anthea Butler (Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought, University of Pennsylvania)
“What is White Christian Nationalism?”
Expert Statement
Kellie Carter Jackson (Michael and Denise Kellen ‘68 Associate Professor of Africana Studies, Wellesley College)
“Understanding the Historical Context for White Supremacist Violence in America in Tandem with the Events of January 6, 2021”
Expert Statement
Katherine Clayton (Ph.D. Candidate, Stanford University), Nicholas T. Davis (Assistant Professor, The University of Alabama), Brendan Nyhan (James O. Freedman Presidential Professor, Dartmouth College), Ethan Porter (Assistant Professor, George Washington University), Timothy J. Ryan (Associate Professor, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) and Thomas J. Wood (Assistant Professor, The Ohio State University)
“President Trump’s Rhetoric Undermined Confidence in Elections Among His Supporters”
Expert Statement
Michael German (Fellow, Brennan Center for Justice, New York University School of Law)
“Why the FBI Failed to Anticipate Violence at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, and How to Prevent it From Happening Again”
Expert Statement
Philip Gorski (Frederick and Laura Goff Professor of Sociology and Religious Studies, Yale University)
“White Christian Nationalism: The What, When, How and Where.”
Expert Statement
Jared Holt (Resident Fellow, Digital Forensic Research Lab, Atlantic Council)
Expert Statement
Aziz Huq (Professor of Law, University of Chicago Law School) and Tom Ginsburg (Professor of Law, University of Chicago Law School)
“Statement on the January 6, 2021 Attacks and the Threat to American Democracy”
Expert Statement
Michael Jensen (Associate Research Scientist, START), Elizabeth Yates (Assistant Research Scientist, START) and Sheehan Kane (Senior Researcher, START)
“Radicalization in the Ranks: An Assessment of the Scope and Nature of Criminal Extremism in the United States Military”
Expert Statement
Rachel Kleinfeld (Senior Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace)
“The Rise in Political Violence in the United States and Damage to Our Democracy”
Expert Statement
Samantha Kutner (Proud Boys Research Lead, Khalifa Ihler Institute), Bjørn Ihler (Co-Founder, Khalifa Ihler Institute), and C.L. Murray (Khalifa Ihler Institute and Lecturer in Criminology, University of North Carolina Wilmington)
“Function Over Appearance; Examining the Role of the Proud Boys in American Politics Before and After January 6th”
Expert Statement
Liliana Mason (Associate Professor of Political Science, Johns Hopkins University), Nathan Kalmoe (Associate Professor of Political Communication, Louisiana State University), Julie Wronski (Associate Professor of American Politics, University of Mississippi) and John Kane (Clinical Assistant Professor, Center for Global Affairs, New York University)
Expert Statement
Kate Masur (Professor of History, Northwestern University) and Gregory Downs (Professor of History, University of California, Davis)
“Our Fragile Democracy: Political Violence, White Supremacy, and Disenfranchisement in American History”
Expert Statement
Mary McCord (Executive Director and Visiting Professor of Law, Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection, Georgetown University Law Center)
Expert Statement
Jennifer Mercieca (Professor, Department of Communication, Texas A&M University)
Expert Statement
Suzanne Mettler (John L. Senior Professor of American Institutions, Cornell University) and Robert C. Lieberman (Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of Political Science, Johns Hopkins University)
“How Four Historic Threats to Democracy Fueled the January 6, 2021 Attack on the United States Capitol”
Expert Statement
Janai Nelson (President and Director-Counsel, NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc.)
Expert Statement
Trevor Potter (Founder and President, Campaign Legal Center)
Expert Statement
Candace Rondeaux (Director, Future Frontlines, New America), Ben Dalton (Open Source Fellow, Future Frontlines, New America), Cuong Nguyen (Social Science and Data Analytics Fellow, Future Frontlines, New America), Michael Simeone (Associate Research Professor, School for Complex Adaptive Systems, Arizona State University), Thomas Taylor (Senior Fellow, New America) and Shawn Walker (Senior Research Fellow, Future Frontlines, New America)
“Investigating Alt-Tech Ties to January 6”
Expert Statement
Mike Rothschild (Journalist and Author)
“Regarding The Role of QAnon in the Events of January 6th and Beyond”
Expert Statement
Andrew Seidel (Constitutional Attorney, Freedom From Religion Foundation)
“Events, People, and Networks Leading Up to January 6” and “Attack on the Capitol: Evidence of the Role of White Christian Nationalism”
Expert Statement
Peter Simi (Professor of Sociology, Chapman University)
“Understanding Far-Right Extremism: The Roots of the January 6th Attack and Why More is Coming”
Expert Statement
Southern Poverty Law Center
Michael Edison Hayden (Senior Investigative Reporter and Spokesperson, Intelligence Project), Megan Squire (Senior Fellow, Intelligence Project) Hannah Gais (Senior Research Analyst, Intelligence Project) and Susan Corke (Director, Intelligence Project)
Expert Statement 1
Cassie Miller (Senior Research Analyst, Intelligence Project) and Susan Corke (Director, Intelligence Project)
Expert Statement 2
Michael Edison Hayden (Senior Investigative Reporter and Spokesperson, Intelligence Project) and Megan Squire (Deputy Director for Data Analytics and OSINT, Intelligence Project)
Expert Statement 3
Jason Stanley (Jacob Urowsky Professor of Philosophy, Yale University) and Federico Finchelstein (Professor of History, The New School)
“The Fascist Danger to Democracy Represented by the Events of January 6, 2021”
Expert Statement
Amanda Tyler et al (Executive Director, Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, and Leader, Christians Against Christian Nationalism Initiative)
“Christian Nationalism and the January 6, 2021 Insurrection” – Report
Expert Statement
Wendy Weiser (Vice President for Democracy, Brennan Center for Justice, New York University School of Law)
Expert Statement
Andrew Whitehead (Associate Professor of Sociology, Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis) and Samuel Perry (Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Oklahoma)
“What is Christian Nationalism?”
Expert Statement
Christine Whitman (Former Governor, New Jersey), Steve Bullock (Former Governor, Montana), Jim Hood (Former Attorney General, Mississippi), Tom Rath (Former Attorney General, New Hampshire), Trey Grayson (Former Secretary of State, Kentucky) and Frankie Sue Del Papa (Former Secretary of State, Nevada)
Expert Statement

IMAGE: Pro-Trump protesters gather in front of the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Jon Cherry/Getty Images)

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Tracker: Litigation and Legislation on the “Insurrection Bar” to Office – Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment

Ryan Goodman — Mon, 01 May 2023 12:51:05 +0000

Just Security is tracking the various efforts to use section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to bar individuals who engaged in the January 6th attack from serving in public office. The information below is also contained in our continually updated January 6th Clearinghouse.

I. Backgrounders

Mark A. Graber, Their Fourteenth Amendment, Section 3 and Ours, Just Security (Feb. 16, 2021)
Project On Government Oversight, Quo Warranto Processes: States and Territories Survey (Jan. 26, 2023)
Congressional Research Service, The Insurrection Bar to Holding Office: Appeals Court Issues Decision on Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment (June 1, 2022)
Congressional Research Service, The Insurrection Bar to Office: Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment (September 7, 2022)
Free Speech for People, States Can Enforce Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment without Any New Federal Legislation (Mar. 2023)
Liz Hempowicz, David Janovsky, Norman L. Eisen, The Constitution’s Disqualification Clause Can Be Enforced Today, Project On Government Oversight (Nov. 15, 2022)

II. Litigation

New Mexico Residents’ Lawsuit to Remove Couy Griffin from Office

New Mexico Commissioner Couy Griffin was indicted by the Department of Justice in February 2021, found guilty in March 2022, and sentenced in June 2022.

Complaint (Mar. 21, 2022)
Exhibits (Mar. 21, 2022)
Notice of Hearing (June 7, 2022)
Hearing Order (June 7, 2022)
Scheduling Order (June 14, 2022)
Notice of Struck Deposition (July 5, 2022)
Griffin Deposition Transcript (July 20, 2022)
Motion to Admit Prior Trial Testimony, Exhibits and Records (July 22, 2022)
Motion to Limit Scope of Defendant’s Cross Examination (July 22, 2022)
Griffin Motion to Quash and Dismiss (July 25, 2022)
Plaintiff Exhibit List (July 25, 2022)
Plaintiff Witness List (July 25, 2022)
Pretrial Order (July 27, 2022)
Struck Deposition Transcript (July 27, 2022)
Plaintiff Motion (July 28, 2022)
Plaintiff Opposition (July 29, 2022)
Pretrial Brief (July 29, 2022)
Griffin Response (July 30, 2022)
Emergency Motion (Aug. 2, 2022)
Griffin Response (Aug. 2, 2022)
Plaintiff Letter to Judge (Aug. 4, 2022)
Plaintiff Revised Trial Exhibit (Aug. 5, 2022)
Struck Deposition Transcript (Aug. 5, 2022)
Amended Hearing Notice (Aug. 8, 2022)
Griffin Reply (Aug. 8, 2022)
Plaintiff Second Revised Exhibit List (Aug. 10, 2022)
Plaintiff Motion for Surreply (Aug. 11, 2022)
Trial Transcript (Aug. 15, 2022)
Trial Transcript (Aug. 16, 2022)
Plaintiff Third Revised Exhibit List (Aug. 19, 2022)
Griffin Order (Aug. 23, 2022)
Griffin Closing Argument (Aug. 29, 2022)
Plaintiff Post Trial Brief (Aug. 29, 2022)
Court’s Decision (Sept. 6, 2022)

Griffin 122-cv-00284

Notice of Removal (Apr. 17, 2022)
Motion to Transfer (Apr. 17, 2022)
Griffin Opposition to Remand (Apr. 24, 2022)
Griffin Opposition to Plaintiff Request (Apr. 27, 2022)
Plaintiff Opposition to Griffin Motion (May 2, 2022)
Order to Grant Motion (May 4, 2022)
Reply of Motion (May 9, 2022)
Notice of Completion (May 9, 2022)
Stipulation (May 9, 2022)
Griffin Response (May 9, 2022)
Exhibit 1 (May 9, 2022)
Exhibit 2 (May 9, 2022)
Plaintiff Response to Notice (May 11, 2022)
Exhibit (May 11, 2022)
Griffin Reply (May 11, 2022)
Order Clarifying Pleadings (May 12, 2022)
Griffin Notice (May 12, 2022)
Griffin Notice (May 13, 2022)
Exhibit (May 13, 2022)
Griffin Reply (May 16, 2022)
Memorandum Opinion and Order (May 27, 2022)

Griffin 1983 Suit-222-cv-00362

Griffin Reply to Opposition (June 2, 2022)
Griffin Supplemental Brief (June 10, 2022)
Memorandum Opinion and Order (June 14, 2022)
Memorandum Opinion and Order (June 28, 2022)

Amicus Curiae Briefs

Scholar Brief (Aug. 1, 2022)
Abrams Brief (Aug. 1, 2022)
Amended Certificate (Aug. 1, 2022)
Griffin Motion to Strike (Aug. 9, 2022)
NAACP New Mexico State Conference Brief (Aug. 23, 2022)
Common Cause in Support of Plaintiff Complaint (Aug. 25, 2022)
Order Denying Motion for Consideration (Feb. 16, 2023)

Griffin Appeal to Supreme Court of New Mexico S-1-SC-39571

Notice of Appeal (Sept. 22, 2022)
Dismissing Order (Nov. 15, 2022)
Motion to Reconsider (Nov. 16, 2022)
Order Denying Motion for Reconsideration (Feb. 16, 2023)

Georgia Voters’ Challenge to Constitutional Qualifications of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene

Complaint (Mar. 24, 2022)
Notice of Hearing (Mar. 25, 2022)
Motion to Take Party Deposition (Mar. 28, 2022)
Notice to Produce (Mar. 28, 2022)
Order Shortening Response Period (Mar. 30, 2022)
Prehearing Order (Mar. 31, 2022)
Motion to Stay Deposition (Apr. 3, 2022)
Objection to Notice to Produce (Apr. 3, 2022)
Motion to Dismiss (Apr. 3, 2022)
Order on Deposition (Apr. 4, 2022)
Subpoena to Rep. Greene (Apr. 5, 2022)
Opposition to Motion to Dismiss (Apr. 11, 2022)
Motion to Enforce Subpoena to Rep. Greene (Apr. 11, 2022)
Prehearing Order (Apr. 13, 2022)
Video Conference Before State Administrative Law Judge (Apr. 11, 2022)
Petitioners’ Motion to Supplement the Record (Apr. 26, 2022)
Greene’s Opposition to Petitioners’ Motion to Supplement the Record (Apr. 28, 2022)
Post-Hearing Brief in Support of Petitioners’ Candidacy Challenge (Apr. 29, 2022)
Rep. Greene’s Post-Hearing Brief (Apr. 29, 2022)
Administrative Law Judge’s Initial Decision (May 6, 2022)
- Transcript of the Proceeding
Letter to Secretary Raffensperger (May 6, 2022)
Secretary Raffensperger’s Final Decision (May 6, 2022)

Rowan v. Raffensperger

Petition for Judicial Review (May 16, 2022)
Greene’s Answer and Counterclaims to Petition for Judicial Review (June 13, 2022)
Briefing Schedule and Hearing Date (June 15, 2022)
Secretary’s Response to Petition for Judicial Review (June 24, 2022)
Greene’s Response to Petition for Judicial Review (June 24, 2022)
Secretary’s Response to Greene’s Counterclaims (July 11, 2022)
Reply Brief for Appeal of Secretary’s Decision (July 15, 2022)
Transcript in Hearing for Appeal of Secretary’s Decision (July 18, 2022)
Fulton County Superior Court Order (July 25, 2022)
Petitioners’ Notice of Appeal (July 28, 2022)
Appellants’ Motion to Expedite (Aug. 4, 2022)
Greene’s Motion to Renew Stay (Aug. 15, 2022)
Secretary Motion to Dismiss (Aug. 17, 2022)
Application for Discretionary Appeal (Aug. 19, 2022)
Intervenors’ Response in Opposition to Motion to Renew Stay (Aug. 23, 2022)
Intervenor-Respondent’s Response to Application for Discretionary Appeal (Aug. 26, 2022)
Secretary’s Response to Application for Discretionary Appeal (Aug. 29, 2022)

Greene v. Raffensperger (District Court)

Plaintiff’s Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief (Apr. 1, 2022)
Plaintiff’s Emergency Motion for Temporary Restraining Order (Apr. 1, 2022)
Plaintiff’s Memorandum of Law in Support of Emergency Motion for Temporary Restraining Order (Apr. 1, 2022)
Plaintiff’s Motion for a Preliminary Injunction (Apr. 1, 2022)
Plaintiff’s Memorandum in Support of Motion for a Preliminary Injunction (Apr. 1, 2022)
Rowan Intervenors’ Motion to Intervene (Apr. 4, 2022)
Plaintiff’s Opposition to Motion to Intervene (Apr. 6, 2022)
State’s Opposition to Preliminary Injunction (Apr. 6, 2022)
Intervenor Defendants’ Opposition to Preliminary Injunction (Apr. 7, 2022)
Plaintiff’s Reply in Support of Motion for Preliminary Injunction (Apr. 7, 2022)
District Court Order (Apr. 7, 2022)
Order Denying Motion for Injunction (Apr. 18, 2022)
Plaintiff’s Motion to Stay (June 1, 2022)
Intervenors’ Response in Opposition to the Plaintiff’s Motion to Stay (June 2, 2022)
Plaintiff’s Reply in Support of Motion to Stay (June 3, 2022)
Defendants Raffensperger and Beaudrot’s Response to Plaintiff’s Motion to Stay (June 3, 2022)
Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss (August 17, 2022)
Intervenors’ Response in Support of Motion to Dismiss (Sept. 1, 2022)

Greene v. Raffensperger (11th Circuit)

Appellant Brief (Apr. 27, 2022)
Derek Muller’s Amicus Brief in Support of No Party (May 12, 2022)
Intervenors Appellees’ Brief (June 14, 2022)
Constitutional Accountability Center Amicus Brief (June 14, 2022)
State Appellees Brief (June 14, 2022)
Appellant’s Reply Brief (June 21, 2022)
Motion to Take Judicial Notice of State Appellees (July 28, 2022)
Appellant’s Motion to Take Judicial Notice (Aug. 2, 2022)
Oral Arguments (Aug. 11, 2022)
Georgia Supreme Court Order Denying Discretionary Appeal (Sept. 1, 2022)
Court Opinion (Nov. 3, 2022)

Arizona Voters’ Challenge to Constitutional Qualifications of Representatives Mark Finchem, Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs

Before Arizona Superior Court:

Gosar Complaint (Apr. 7, 2022)
Gosar Motion for Preliminary Injunction and Discovery (Apr. 7, 2022)
Biggs Complaint (Apr. 7, 2022)
Biggs Motion for Preliminary Injunction and Discovery (Apr. 7, 2022)
Finchem Complaint (Apr. 7, 2022)
Finchem Motion for Preliminary Injunction and Discovery (Apr. 7, 2022)
Finchem Order to Appear for Trial (Apr. 7, 2022)
Court Order Dismissing Case (Apr. 22, 2022)

Appeal before Supreme Court of Arizona:

Opening Brief (Apr. 28, 2022)
Appellants’ Appendix Part I (Apr. 28, 2022)
Appellants’ Appendix Part II (Apr. 28, 2022)
Reply Brief (May 2, 2022)
Decision Order (May 9, 2022)

North Carolina’s 13th Congressional District’s Challenge to Constitutional Qualifications of Rep. Madison Cawthorn

Complaint (Jan. 10, 2022)
Challenge (Mar. 2, 2022)

Cawthorn v. Circosta et al.

Cawthorn Complaint (Jan. 31, 2022)
Cawthorn Motion for Preliminary Injunction (Jan. 31, 2022)
State’s Response to Motion for Preliminary Injunction (Feb. 7, 2022)
Motion to Intervene as Defendants (Feb. 7, 2022)
Opposition to Cawthorn’s Motion for Preliminary Injunction (Feb. 7, 2022)
Proposed Defendant-Intervenors’ Reply Memorandum in Further Support of Motion to Intervene as Defendants (Feb. 17, 2022)
Order Denying Motion to Intervene (Feb. 21, 2022)
Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss (Feb. 22, 2022)
Memorandum of Law in Support of State Board Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss (Feb. 22, 2022)
- Backgrounder: Kyle Cheney, North Carolina officials reject Cawthorn claim that Constitution’s insurrectionist ban no longer applies, Politico (Feb. 23, 2022)
Order Granting Motion to Consolidate (Feb. 22, 2022)
Draft Transcript of U.S. District Court Hearing in Cawthorne v. Circosta (Mar. 4, 2022)
Emergency Motion for Stay of Injunction Pending Appeal (Mar. 9, 2022)
Order Granting Motion for Preliminary Injunction (Mar. 10, 2022)
- Backgrounder: Jonathan Weisman, Judge Blocks Effort to Disqualify Cawthorn from Ballot as ‘Insurrectionist’, New York Times (Mar. 4, 2022)
Constitutional Accountability Center Amicus Brief (Mar. 11, 2022)
Plaintiff’s Response to Motion to Stay (Mar. 14, 2022)
North Carolina GOP Amicus Brief (Mar. 14, 2022)
North Carolina State Board of Elections Amicus Brief (Mar. 14, 2022)
Challengers’ Reply in Support of Emergency Motion for Stay (Mar. 15, 2022)
4th Circuit Order (Mar. 17, 2022)
Renewed Motion to Intervene (Mar. 17, 2022)
Order Denying Renewed Motion to Intervene (Mar. 30, 2022)
Emergency Motion for Stay of Injunction Pending Appeal (Mar. 31, 2022)
Second Amended Notice of Appeal of Proposed Defendant-Intervenors (Mar. 31, 2022)
Motion to Expedite Appeal (Apr. 4, 2022)
Plaintiff’s Response to Renewed Motion to Stay (Apr. 5, 2022)
Appellant Opening Brief (Apr. 14, 2022)
Constitutional Accountability Center Amicus Brief (Apr. 14, 2022)
Derek Muller’s Amicus Brief in Support of No Party (Apr. 21, 2022)
Cawthorn Brief as Appellee (Apr. 26, 2022)
Reply Brief of Appellants (Apr. 29, 2022)
Appeals Court Opinion Cawthorn v. Amalfi (May 24, 2022)
Stipulation of Dismissal (June 30, 2022)
Order of Dismissal (June 30, 2022)

III. Proposed State Legislation

New York State Assembly Bill A2389, Restrict Insurrections from Office Taking (RIOT) Act
New York State Senate Bill S888, Restrict Insurrectionists from Office Taking (RIOT) Act
Connecticut State Senate Bill 244, An Act Concerning Eligibility to Hold Public Office or be Employed by the State or any Municipality
Pennsylvania State Assembly Bill 2672, A Joint Resolution proposing integrated amendments to the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, further providing for ineligibility by criminal convictions and for removal of civil officers
Pennsylvania State Assembly Bill 2763, An Act amending Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in obstructing governmental operations, providing for the offense of seditious conspiracy against the Commonwealth; and, in abuse of office, providing for the offense of seditious conspiracy against the Commonwealth while holding public office
Virginia State Assembly Bill 1562, A Bill to amend and reenact § 18.2-413 of the Code of Virginia, relating to insurrections; bar to serving in positions of public trust

The post Tracker: Litigation and Legislation on the “Insurrection Bar” to Office – Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment appeared first on Just Security.

January 6 Clearinghouse

Ryan Goodman — Mon, 01 May 2023 05:38:46 +0000

Welcome to this all-source repository of information for analysts, researchers, investigators, journalists, educators, and the public at large.

Check out our new addition below: A curated repository of deposition transcripts from the House Select Committee.

Readers may also be interested in Major Highlights of the January 6th Report.

If you think the January 6 Clearinghouse is missing something, please send recommendations for additional content by email to Jan6Clearinghouse@justsecurity.org.

Sign up for the January 6 Newsletter — an occasional notification of significant additions to the Clearinghouse. We will also provide an anonymous reader poll to learn more about what frequency and type of content people prefer to receive.

The editors are especially grateful for the extraordinary assistance of Clara Apt.

Expand all Collapse all

Timelines

1. Atlantic Council’s DFRLab, #StopTheSteal: Timeline of Social Media and Extremist Activities Leading to 1/6 Insurrection, Just Security (Feb. 10, 2021)

2. DC National Guard, Civil Unrest on 6 January 2021 Timeline of Events for National Guard Activation (Jan. 7, 2021)

3. Ryan Goodman, Mari Dugas and Nicholas Tonckens, Incitement Timeline: Year of Trump’s Actions Leading to the Attack on the Capitol, Just Security (Jan. 11, 2021)

4. Andrew Restuccia and Ted Mann, “Jan. 6, 2021: How It Unfolded - A Minute-by-Minute Look,” Wall Street Journal (Feb. 12, 2021)

5. Department of Defense, Planning and Execution Timeline (released on Jan. 8, 2021)

6. Kate Brannen and Ryan Goodman, The Official and Unofficial Timeline of Defense Department Actions on January 6, Just Security, (May 11, 2021)

7. House Committee on Oversight and Reform, Fact Sheet and Timeline: Delayed National Guard Response to January 6 Insurrection (released on Jun. 16, 2021)

8. United States Secret Service, USSS Timeline of Jan. 6, 2021 (FOIA release on Jun. 29, 2021)

9. Ryan Goodman and Juilee Shivalkar, Mark Meadows Timeline: The Chief of Staff and Schemes to Overturn 2020 Election (Aug. 8, 2021)

10. Justin Hendrix, Nicholas Tonckens and Sruthi Venkatachalam, Timeline: Rep. Jim Jordan, a Systematic Disinformation Campaign, and January 6 (Aug. 23, 2021)

11. Justin Hendrix, Justin Cole, Margaret Shields and Nicholas Tonckens, Timeline: Rep. Mo Brooks, January 6, and the Effort to Overturn an Election, (Nov. 9, 2021)

12. Ryan Goodman and Antara Joardar, Timeline for Anniversary of January 5: DOJ Election Fraud Investigations and GA Senate Runoff (Jan. 5, 2022)

13. Erik Dahl, January 6 Intelligence and Warning Timeline (June 7, 2022)

14. Ryan Goodman, Timeline: False Alternate Slate of Electors Scheme, Donald Trump and His Close Associates (July 18, 2022) (see also Backgrounder and PolitiFact)

NEW: Expert Statements (on Democracy and Political Violence) submitted to House Select Committee

Read Introduction to the statements by Jacob Glick. He served as Investigative Counsel on the House Select Committee, where he was a lead counsel on the committee's investigations into domestic extremism and social media's role in the attempted insurrection.

Carol Anderson (Charles Howard Candler Professor, African American Studies, Emory University)
“The Role of White Rage and Voter Suppression in the Insurrection on January 6, 2021"
Expert Statement
Anti Defamation League
“Extremist Movements and the January 6, 2021 Insurrection”
Expert Statement
Heidi Beirich (Co-Founder and Executive Vice President, Global Project Against Hate and Extremism)
“The Role of the Proud Boys in the January 6th Capitol Attack and Beyond”
Expert Statement
Kathleen Belew (Associate Professor of History, University of Chicago)
Expert Statement
Ruth Ben-Ghiat (Professor of History, New York University)
“Strongmen Don’t Accept Defeat: The January 6th, 2021, Assault on the Capitol as an Outcome of Donald J. Trump’s Authoritarian Presidency”
Expert Statement
Bright Line Watch
John Carey (John Wentworth Professor in the Social Sciences, Dartmouth College), Gretchen Helmke (Thomas H. Jackson Distinguished University Professor, University of Rochester), Brendan Nyhan (James O. Freedman Presidential Professor, Dartmouth College) and Susan Stokes (Tiffany and Margaret Blake Distinguished Service Professor, University of Chicago)
“The Destructive Effects of President Trump’s Effort to Overturn the 2020 Election”
Expert Statement
Anthea Butler (Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought, University of Pennsylvania)
“What is White Christian Nationalism?”
Expert Statement
Kellie Carter Jackson (Michael and Denise Kellen ‘68 Associate Professor of Africana Studies, Wellesley College)
“Understanding the Historical Context for White Supremacist Violence in America in Tandem with the Events of January 6, 2021”
Expert Statement
Katherine Clayton (Ph.D. Candidate, Stanford University), Nicholas T. Davis (Assistant Professor, The University of Alabama), Brendan Nyhan (James O. Freedman Presidential Professor, Dartmouth College), Ethan Porter (Assistant Professor, George Washington University), Timothy J. Ryan (Associate Professor, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) and Thomas J. Wood (Assistant Professor, The Ohio State University)
“President Trump’s Rhetoric Undermined Confidence in Elections Among His Supporters”
Expert Statement
Michael German (Fellow, Brennan Center for Justice, New York University School of Law)
“Why the FBI Failed to Anticipate Violence at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, and How to Prevent it From Happening Again”
Expert Statement
Philip Gorski (Frederick and Laura Goff Professor of Sociology and Religious Studies, Yale University)
“White Christian Nationalism: The What, When, How and Where.”
Expert Statement
Jared Holt (Resident Fellow, Digital Forensic Research Lab, Atlantic Council)
Expert Statement
Aziz Huq (Professor of Law, University of Chicago Law School) and Tom Ginsburg (Professor of Law, University of Chicago Law School)
“Statement on the January 6, 2021 Attacks and the Threat to American Democracy”
Expert Statement
Michael Jensen (Associate Research Scientist, START), Elizabeth Yates (Assistant Research Scientist, START) and Sheehan Kane (Senior Researcher, START)
“Radicalization in the Ranks: An Assessment of the Scope and Nature of Criminal Extremism in the United States Military”
Expert Statement
Rachel Kleinfeld (Senior Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace)
“The Rise in Political Violence in the United States and Damage to Our Democracy”
Expert Statement
Samantha Kutner (Proud Boys Research Lead, Khalifa Ihler Institute), Bjørn Ihler (Co-Founder, Khalifa Ihler Institute), and C.L. Murray (Khalifa Ihler Institute and Lecturer in Criminology, University of North Carolina Wilmington)
“Function Over Appearance; Examining the Role of the Proud Boys in American Politics Before and After January 6th”
Expert Statement
Liliana Mason (Associate Professor of Political Science, Johns Hopkins University), Nathan Kalmoe (Associate Professor of Political Communication, Louisiana State University), Julie Wronski (Associate Professor of American Politics, University of Mississippi) and John Kane (Clinical Assistant Professor, Center for Global Affairs, New York University)
Expert Statement
Kate Masur (Professor of History, Northwestern University) and Gregory Downs (Professor of History, University of California, Davis)
“Our Fragile Democracy: Political Violence, White Supremacy, and Disenfranchisement in American History”
Expert Statement
Mary McCord (Executive Director and Visiting Professor of Law, Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection, Georgetown University Law Center)
Expert Statement
Jennifer Merceica (Professor, Department of Communication, Texas A&M University)
Expert Statement
Suzanne Mettler (John L. Senior Professor of American Institutions, Cornell University) and Robert C. Lieberman (Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of Political Science, Johns Hopkins University)
“How Four Historic Threats to Democracy Fueled the January 6, 2021 Attack on the United States Capitol”
Expert Statement
Janai Nelson (President and Director-Counsel, NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc.)
Expert Statement
Trevor Potter (Founder and President, Campaign Legal Center)
Expert Statement
Candace Rondeaux (Director, Future Frontlines, New America), Ben Dalton (Open Source Fellow, Future Frontlines, New America), Cuong Nguyen (Social Science and Data Analytics Fellow, Future Frontlines, New America), Michael Simeone (Associate Research Professor, School for Complex Adaptive Systems, Arizona State University), Thomas Taylor (Senior Fellow, New America) and Shawn Walker (Senior Research Fellow, Future Frontlines, New America)
“Investigating Alt-Tech Ties to January 6”
Expert Statement
Mike Rothschild (Journalist and Author)
"Regarding The Role of QAnon in the Events of January 6th and Beyond"
Expert Statement
Andrew Seidel (Constitutional Attorney, Freedom From Religion Foundation)
“Events, People, and Networks Leading Up to January 6” and “Attack on the Capitol: Evidence of the Role of White Christian Nationalism”
Expert Statement
Peter Simi (Professor of Sociology, Chapman University)
“Understanding Far-Right Extremism: The Roots of the January 6th Attack and Why More is Coming”
Expert Statement
Southern Poverty Law Center
Michael Edison Hayden (Senior Investigative Reporter and Spokesperson, Intelligence Project), Megan Squire (Senior Fellow, Intelligence Project) Hannah Gais (Senior Research Analyst, Intelligence Project) and Susan Corke (Director, Intelligence Project)
Expert Statement 1
Cassie Miller (Senior Research Analyst, Intelligence Project) and Susan Corke (Director, Intelligence Project)
Expert Statement 2
Michael Edison Hayden (Senior Investigative Reporter and Spokesperson, Intelligence Project) and Megan Squire (Deputy Director for Data Analytics and OSINT, Intelligence Project)
Expert Statement 3
Jason Stanley (Jacob Urowsky Professor of Philosophy, Yale University) and Federico Finchelstein (Professor of History, The New School)
“The Fascist Danger to Democracy Represented by the Events of January 6, 2021”
Expert Statement
Amanda Tyler et al (Executive Director, Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, and Leader, Christians Against Christian Nationalism Initiative)
“Christian Nationalism and the January 6, 2021 Insurrection” - Report
Expert Statement
Wendy Weiser (Vice President for Democracy, Brennan Center for Justice, New York University School of Law)
Expert Statement
Andrew Whitehead (Associate Professor of Sociology, Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis) and Samuel Perry (Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Oklahoma)
“What is Christian Nationalism?”
Expert Statement
Christine Whitman (Former Governor, New Jersey), Steve Bullock (Former Governor, Montana), Jim Hood (Former Attorney General, Mississippi), Tom Rath (Former Attorney General, New Hampshire), Trey Grayson (Former Secretary of State, Kentucky) and Frankie Sue Del Papa (Former Secretary of State, Nevada)
Expert Statement

NEW: 14th Amendment Section 3 Disqualification from Office (litigation and legislation)

I. Backgrounders

Project On Government Oversight, Quo Warranto Processes: States and Territories Survey (Jan. 26, 2023)
Congressional Research Service, The Insurrection Bar to Holding Office: Appeals Court Issues Decision on Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment (June 1, 2022)
Congressional Research Service, The Insurrection Bar to Office: Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment (September 7, 2022)
Free Speech for People, States Can Enforce Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment without Any New Federal Legislation (Mar. 2023)
Liz Hempowicz, David Janovsky, Norman L. Eisen, The Constitution’s Disqualification Clause Can Be Enforced Today, Project On Government Oversight (Nov. 15, 2022)

II. Litigation

New Mexico Residents’ Lawsuit to Remove Couy Griffin from Office

New Mexico Commissioner Couy Griffin was indicted by the Department of Justice in February 2021, found guilty in March 2022, and sentenced in June 2022.

Complaint (Mar. 21, 2022)
Exhibits (Mar. 21, 2022)
Notice of Hearing (June 7, 2022)
Hearing Order (June 7, 2022)
Scheduling Order (June 14, 2022)
Notice of Struck Deposition (July 5, 2022)
Griffin Deposition Transcript (July 20, 2022)
Motion to Admit Prior Trial Testimony, Exhibits and Records (July 22, 2022)
Motion to Limit Scope of Defendant’s Cross Examination (July 22, 2022)
Griffin Motion to Quash and Dismiss (July 25, 2022)
Plaintiff Exhibit List (July 25, 2022)
Plaintiff Witness List (July 25, 2022)
Pretrial Order (July 27, 2022)
Struck Deposition Transcript (July 27, 2022)
Plaintiff Motion (July 28, 2022)
Plaintiff Opposition (July 29, 2022)
Pretrial Brief (July 29, 2022)
Griffin Response (July 30, 2022)
Emergency Motion (Aug. 2, 2022)
Griffin Response (Aug. 2, 2022)
Plaintiff Letter to Judge (Aug. 4, 2022)
Plaintiff Revised Trial Exhibit (Aug. 5, 2022)
Struck Deposition Transcript (Aug. 5, 2022)
Amended Hearing Notice (Aug. 8, 2022)
Griffin Reply (Aug. 8, 2022)
Plaintiff Second Revised Exhibit List (Aug. 10, 2022)
Plaintiff Motion for Surreply (Aug. 11, 2022)
Trial Transcript (Aug. 15, 2022)
Trial Transcript (Aug. 16, 2022)
Plaintiff Third Revised Exhibit List (Aug. 19, 2022)
Griffin Order (Aug. 23, 2022)
Griffin Closing Argument (Aug. 29, 2022)
Plaintiff Post Trial Brief (Aug. 29, 2022)
Court’s Decision (Sept. 6, 2022)

Griffin 122-cv-00284

Notice of Removal (Apr. 17, 2022)
Motion to Transfer (Apr. 17, 2022)
Griffin Opposition to Remand (Apr. 24, 2022)
Griffin Opposition to Plaintiff Request (Apr. 27, 2022)
Plaintiff Opposition to Griffin Motion (May 2, 2022)
Order to Grant Motion (May 4, 2022)
Reply of Motion (May 9, 2022)
Notice of Completion (May 9, 2022)
Stipulation (May 9, 2022)
Griffin Response (May 9, 2022)
Exhibit 1 (May 9, 2022)
Exhibit 2 (May 9, 2022)
Plaintiff Response to Notice (May 11, 2022)
Exhibit (May 11, 2022)
Griffin Reply (May 11, 2022)
Order Clarifying Pleadings (May 12, 2022)
Griffin Notice (May 12, 2022)
Griffin Notice (May 13, 2022)
Exhibit (May 13, 2022)
Griffin Reply (May 16, 2022)
Memorandum Opinion and Order (May 27, 2022)

Griffin 1983 Suit-222-cv-00362

Griffin Reply to Opposition (June 2, 2022)
Griffin Supplemental Brief (June 10, 2022)
Memorandum Opinion and Order (June 14, 2022)
Memorandum Opinion and Order (June 28, 2022)

Amicus Curiae Briefs

Scholar Brief (Aug. 1, 2022)
Abrams Brief (Aug. 1, 2022)
Amended Certificate (Aug. 1, 2022)
Griffin Motion to Strike (Aug. 9, 2022)
NAACP New Mexico State Conference Brief (Aug. 23, 2022)
Common Cause in Support of Plaintiff Complaint (Aug. 25, 2022)
Order Denying Motion for Consideration (Feb. 16, 2023)

Griffin Appeal to Supreme Court of New Mexico S-1-SC-39571

Notice of Appeal (Sept. 22, 2022)
Dismissing Order (Nov. 15, 2022)
Motion to Reconsider (Nov. 16, 2022)
Order Denying Motion for Reconsideration (Feb. 16, 2023)

Georgia Voters’ Challenge to Constitutional Qualifications of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene

Complaint (Mar. 24, 2022)
Notice of Hearing (Mar. 25, 2022)
Motion to Take Party Deposition (Mar. 28, 2022)
Notice to Produce (Mar. 28, 2022)
Order Shortening Response Period (Mar. 30, 2022)
Prehearing Order (Mar. 31, 2022)
Motion to Stay Deposition (Apr. 3, 2022)
Objection to Notice to Produce (Apr. 3, 2022)
Motion to Dismiss (Apr. 3, 2022)
Order on Deposition (Apr. 4, 2022)
Subpoena to Rep. Greene (Apr. 5, 2022)
Opposition to Motion to Dismiss (Apr. 11, 2022)
Motion to Enforce Subpoena to Rep. Greene (Apr. 11, 2022)
Prehearing Order (Apr. 13, 2022)
Video Conference Before State Administrative Law Judge (Apr. 11, 2022)
Petitioners’ Motion to Supplement the Record (Apr. 26, 2022)
Greene’s Opposition to Petitioners’ Motion to Supplement the Record (Apr. 28, 2022)
Post-Hearing Brief in Support of Petitioners’ Candidacy Challenge (Apr. 29, 2022)
Rep. Greene’s Post-Hearing Brief (Apr. 29, 2022)
Administrative Law Judge’s Initial Decision (May 6, 2022)
- Transcript of the Proceeding
Letter to Secretary Raffensperger (May 6, 2022)
Secretary Raffensperger’s Final Decision (May 6, 2022)

Rowan v. Raffensperger

Petition for Judicial Review (May 16, 2022)
Greene’s Answer and Counterclaims to Petition for Judicial Review (June 13, 2022)
Briefing Schedule and Hearing Date (June 15, 2022)
Secretary’s Response to Petition for Judicial Review (June 24, 2022)
Greene’s Response to Petition for Judicial Review (June 24, 2022)
Secretary’s Response to Greene’s Counterclaims (July 11, 2022)
Reply Brief for Appeal of Secretary’s Decision (July 15, 2022)
Transcript in Hearing for Appeal of Secretary’s Decision (July 18, 2022)
Fulton County Superior Court Order (July 25, 2022)
Petitioners’ Notice of Appeal (July 28, 2022)
Appellants’ Motion to Expedite (Aug. 4, 2022)
Greene’s Motion to Renew Stay (Aug. 15, 2022)
Secretary Motion to Dismiss (Aug. 17, 2022)
Application for Discretionary Appeal (Aug. 19, 2022)
Intervenors’ Response in Opposition to Motion to Renew Stay (Aug. 23, 2022)
Intervenor-Respondent’s Response to Application for Discretionary Appeal (Aug. 26, 2022)
Secretary’s Response to Application for Discretionary Appeal (Aug. 29, 2022)

Greene v. Raffensperger (District Court)

Plaintiff’s Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief (Apr. 1, 2022)
Plaintiff’s Emergency Motion for Temporary Restraining Order (Apr. 1, 2022)
Plaintiff’s Memorandum of Law in Support of Emergency Motion for Temporary Restraining Order (Apr. 1, 2022)
Plaintiff’s Motion for a Preliminary Injunction (Apr. 1, 2022)
Plaintiff’s Memorandum in Support of Motion for a Preliminary Injunction (Apr. 1, 2022)
Rowan Intervenors’ Motion to Intervene (Apr. 4, 2022)
Plaintiff’s Opposition to Motion to Intervene (Apr. 6, 2022)
State’s Opposition to Preliminary Injunction (Apr. 6, 2022)
Intervenor Defendants’ Opposition to Preliminary Injunction (Apr. 7, 2022)
Plaintiff’s Reply in Support of Motion for Preliminary Injunction (Apr. 7, 2022)
District Court Order (Apr. 7, 2022)
Order Denying Motion for Injunction (Apr. 18, 2022)
Plaintiff’s Motion to Stay (June 1, 2022)
Intervenors’ Response in Opposition to the Plaintiff’s Motion to Stay (June 2, 2022)
Plaintiff’s Reply in Support of Motion to Stay (June 3, 2022)
Defendants Raffensperger and Beaudrot’s Response to Plaintiff’s Motion to Stay (June 3, 2022)
Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss (August 17, 2022)
Intervenors’ Response in Support of Motion to Dismiss (Sept. 1, 2022)

Greene v. Raffensperger (11th Circuit)

Appellant Brief (Apr. 27, 2022)
Derek Muller’s Amicus Brief in Support of No Party (May 12, 2022)
Intervenors Appellees’ Brief (June 14, 2022)
Constitutional Accountability Center Amicus Brief (June 14, 2022)
State Appellees Brief (June 14, 2022)
Appellant’s Reply Brief (June 21, 2022)
Motion to Take Judicial Notice of State Appellees (July 28, 2022)
Appellant’s Motion to Take Judicial Notice (Aug. 2, 2022)
Oral Arguments (Aug. 11, 2022)
Georgia Supreme Court Order Denying Discretionary Appeal (Sept. 1, 2022)
Court Opinion (Nov. 3, 2022)

Arizona Voters’ Challenge to Constitutional Qualifications of Representatives Mark Finchem, Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs

Before Arizona Superior Court:

Gosar Complaint (Apr. 7, 2022)
Gosar Motion for Preliminary Injunction and Discovery (Apr. 7, 2022)
Biggs Complaint (Apr. 7, 2022)
Biggs Motion for Preliminary Injunction and Discovery (Apr. 7, 2022)
Finchem Complaint (Apr. 7, 2022)
Finchem Motion for Preliminary Injunction and Discovery (Apr. 7, 2022)
Finchem Order to Appear for Trial (Apr. 7, 2022)
Court Order Dismissing Case (Apr. 22, 2022)

Appeal before Supreme Court of Arizona:

Opening Brief (Apr. 28, 2022)
Appellants’ Appendix Part I (Apr. 28, 2022)
Appellants’ Appendix Part II (Apr. 28, 2022)
Reply Brief (May 2, 2022)
Decision Order (May 9, 2022)

North Carolina’s 13th Congressional District’s Challenge to Constitutional Qualifications of Rep. Madison Cawthorn

Complaint (Jan. 10, 2022)
Challenge (Mar. 2, 2022)

Cawthorn v. Circosta et al.

Cawthorn Complaint (Jan. 31, 2022)
Cawthorn Motion for Preliminary Injunction (Jan. 31, 2022)
State’s Response to Motion for Preliminary Injunction (Feb. 7, 2022)
Motion to Intervene as Defendants (Feb. 7, 2022)
Opposition to Cawthorn’s Motion for Preliminary Injunction (Feb. 7, 2022)
Proposed Defendant-Intervenors’ Reply Memorandum in Further Support of Motion to Intervene as Defendants (Feb. 17, 2022)
Order Denying Motion to Intervene (Feb. 21, 2022)
Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss (Feb. 22, 2022)
Memorandum of Law in Support of State Board Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss (Feb. 22, 2022)
- Backgrounder: Kyle Cheney, North Carolina officials reject Cawthorn claim that Constitution’s insurrectionist ban no longer applies, Politico (Feb. 23, 2022)
Order Granting Motion to Consolidate (Feb. 22, 2022)
Draft Transcript of U.S. District Court Hearing in Cawthorne v. Circosta (Mar. 4, 2022)
Emergency Motion for Stay of Injunction Pending Appeal (Mar. 9, 2022)
Order Granting Motion for Preliminary Injunction (Mar. 10, 2022)
- Backgrounder: Jonathan Weisman, Judge Blocks Effort to Disqualify Cawthorn from Ballot as ‘Insurrectionist’, New York Times (Mar. 4, 2022)
Constitutional Accountability Center Amicus Brief (Mar. 11, 2022)
Plaintiff’s Response to Motion to Stay (Mar. 14, 2022)
North Carolina GOP Amicus Brief (Mar. 14, 2022)
North Carolina State Board of Elections Amicus Brief (Mar. 14, 2022)
Challengers’ Reply in Support of Emergency Motion for Stay (Mar. 15, 2022)
4th Circuit Order (Mar. 17, 2022)
Renewed Motion to Intervene (Mar. 17, 2022)
Order Denying Renewed Motion to Intervene (Mar. 30, 2022)
Emergency Motion for Stay of Injunction Pending Appeal (Mar. 31, 2022)
Second Amended Notice of Appeal of Proposed Defendant-Intervenors (Mar. 31, 2022)
Motion to Expedite Appeal (Apr. 4, 2022)
Plaintiff’s Response to Renewed Motion to Stay (Apr. 5, 2022)
Appellant Opening Brief (Apr. 14, 2022)
Constitutional Accountability Center Amicus Brief (Apr. 14, 2022)
Derek Muller’s Amicus Brief in Support of No Party (Apr. 21, 2022)
Cawthorn Brief as Appellee (Apr. 26, 2022)
Reply Brief of Appellants (Apr. 29, 2022)
Appeals Court Opinion Cawthorn v. Amalfi (May 24, 2022)
Stipulation of Dismissal (June 30, 2022)
Order of Dismissal (June 30, 2022)

III. Proposed State Legislation

New York State Assembly Bill A2389, Restrict Insurrections from Office Taking (RIOT) Act
New York State Senate Bill S888, Restrict Insurrectionists from Office Taking (RIOT) Act
Connecticut State Senate Bill 244, An Act Concerning Eligibility to Hold Public Office or be Employed by the State or any Municipality
Pennsylvania State Assembly Bill 2672, A Joint Resolution proposing integrated amendments to the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, further providing for ineligibility by criminal convictions and for removal of civil officers
Pennsylvania State Assembly Bill 2763, An Act amending Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in obstructing governmental operations, providing for the offense of seditious conspiracy against the Commonwealth; and, in abuse of office, providing for the offense of seditious conspiracy against the Commonwealth while holding public office
Virginia State Assembly Bill 1562, A Bill to amend and reenact § 18.2-413 of the Code of Virginia, relating to insurrections; bar to serving in positions of public trust

Deposition Transcripts of House Select Committee (sorted by affiliation, position, date of deposition)

These files contain the full repository of transcripts released by the Select Committee. We identify and sort by every witness's affiliation. We created permanent links (via Perma.cc) for each of these documents. The linked material accordingly cannot be deleted, even if a future Congress were to eliminate the content on the congressional websites, and it is also protected against "link rot." These documents are text searchable (OCR format). If you think we are missing anything, please send recommendations by email to Jan6Clearinghouse@justsecurity.org.

All: Alphabetical by witness

Michael Ahrens - RNC Communications Director (Sept. 1, 2022)
Ali Alexander - Stop the Steal organizer (Dec. 9, 2021)
Hanna Allred - RNC Chief Copywriter (Mar. 30, 2022)
Benjamin Angle - Chief Media Officer at National Media (Mar. 29, 2022)
Samuel Armes - Alleged author of “1776 Returns” document (Jul. 18, 2022)
Stephen Ayres - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Jun. 17, 2022)
Stephen Ayres - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Jun. 22, 2022)
Stephen K. Bannon - Donald Trump associate and adviser (Oct. 14, 2021) (did not appear before Committee)
Eric Barber - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Mar. 16, 2022)
Christopher Barcenas* - Proud Boy and Miami-Dade Republican Executive Committee member (Mar. 10, 2022)
William Barr - Attorney General (Jun. 2, 2022)
Austin Ferrer Piran Basualdo - White House Associate Director of Special Projects in the Correspondence Office (Apr. 8, 2022)
Jocelyn Benson - Michigan Secretary of State (Jun. 2, 2022)
Landon Bentley - Oath Keeper (May 12, 2022)
Kathy Berden* - Chairperson, Michigan false electors (Mar. 11, 2022)
Jeremy Bertino - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Apr. 26, 2022)
Christina Bobb - Attorney for the Trump Campaign (Apr. 21, 2022)
William Bock, IV - Director of Research for the White House Office of Speechwriting (Apr 15, 2022)
Austin Boedigheimer - RNC Digital Deputy Director (Apr. 20, 2022)
David Bowdich - FBI Deputy Director (Dec. 16, 2021)
Rusty Bowers - Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives (Jun. 19, 2022)
Charles Bowman - Women for America First volunteer (May 20, 2022)
Muriel Bowser - Washington D.C. Mayor (Jan. 12, 2022)
Alexander Bruesewitz* - Stop the Steal organizer (Mar. 8, 2022)
Taylor Budowich - Spokesperson for Donald Trump (Dec. 22, 2022)
Janet West Buhler - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Feb. 28, 2022)
Patrick Byrne - Donald Trump associate (Jul. 15, 2022)
Alex Cannon - Deputy General Counsel for the Trump 2020 Presidential Campaign (deposition 1: Apr. 13, 2022)
Alex Cannon - Deputy General Counsel for the Trump 2020 Presidential Campaign (deposition 2: Aug. 18, 2022)
Lewis Easton Cantwell - Rioter; January 6 defendant(Apr. 26, 2022)
Justin Caporale - Former Trump staffer who helped produce Ellipse rally (Mar. 1, 2022)
Patrick Casey* - White nationalist Groyper and “America First” leader (Mar. 2, 2022)
Cindy Chafian - Spokesperson of the Eighty Percent Coalition (Oct. 28, 2021)
Elaine Chao - Secretary of Transportation (Aug. 4, 2022)
Kenneth Chesebro - Attorney and legal advisor for the Trump Campaign (Oct. 25, 2022)
Dion Cini* - Conservative/far-right activist (May 19, 2022)
Pat Cipollone - White House Counsel (Jul. 8, 2022)
Jeffrey Clark* - Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division of the Department of Justice (Nov. 5, 2021)
Jeffrey Clark* - Former Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division (Feb. 2, 2022)
Justin Clark - Deputy Campaign Manager for the Trump 2020 Presidential Campaign (May 17, 2022)
Matthew Clarke - Strategic Business Solutions Founder (Aug. 4, 2022)
Gary Coby - RNC Digital Director (Feb. 23, 2022)
Francis Connor - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Jul. 7, 2022)
Thomas Paul Conover, Jr. - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Mar. 8, 2022)
Robert Contee - Chief of D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (Jan. 11, 2022)
Kellyanne Conway - Former Counselor to President Trump (Nov. 28, 2022)
Laura Cox - Michigan State Representative and GOP Chair (May 3, 2022)
Rachel Craddock - Special Assistant to the President (May 24, 2022)
Shealah Craighead - White House Photographer (Jun. 8, 2022)
Shealah Craighead - White House Photographer (Jun. 29, 2022)
Ken Cuccinelli - Acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security (Dec. 7, 2021)
Bryan Cutler - Pennsylvania State Representative and Speaker of the House (May 31, 2022)
Kristin Davis - Roger Stone associate (August 2, 2022)
Nicholas DeCarlo - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Oct. 4, 2022)
Judson P. Deere - Deputy Assistant to the President and White House Deputy Press Secretary (Mar. 3, 2022)
Enrique De La Torre* - Stop the Steal supporter (May 11, 2022)
Jim DeGraffenreid* - Secretary, Nevada false electors (Feb. 24, 2022)
Stephanie Dobitsch - Acting Deputy Under Secretary for the Office of Intelligence and Analysis at DHS (May 5, 2022)
Richard Dockery - Oath Keeper (Feb. 2, 2022)
Cassie Docksey - Deputy Communications Director of the Republican National Committee (Aug. 25, 2022)
J. Doe - Employee for Salesforce, TMAGAC’s original email service provider (May 20, 2022)
Sean Dollman - Deputy Director of Operations for Trump Campaign (Jun. 29, 2022)
Richard Peter Donoghue - Acting Deputy Attorney General (Oct. 1, 2021)
John K. Donohue - Director of the Intelligence and Interagency Coordination Division for the Capitol Police
Edward Durfee - Oath Keeper (Mar. 23, 2022)
John Eastman* - Personal attorney for Donald Trump (Dec. 9, 2021)
Caroline Elizabeth Edwards - U.S. Capitol Police Officer (Apr. 18, 2022)
Jenna Ellis* - Attorney working for Trump Campaign (Mar. 8, 2022)
Josh Ellis - Owner of the MyMilitia website (May 19, 2022)
Steven Engel - Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel (Jan. 13, 2022)
Ray Epps - Oath Keepers Member (Jan. 21, 2022)
Mark Esper - Secretary of Defense (Apr.1, 2022)
Julie Fancelli* - Billionaire funder of Ellipse rally and donor to Infowars (Feb. 18, 2022)
Julie Farnam - Assistant Director of US Capitol Police Intelligence Unit (Dec. 15, 2021)
Mark Finchem - Arizona State Representative (Apr. 22, 2022)
Joshua Findlay - Associate General Counsel for Trump Campaign (May 25, 2022)
Brian Fishman - Employee for the Civic Integrity Team at Facebook (Apr. 26, 2022)
Jamie Fleet - Senior Advisor to the Speaker of the House (Mar. 10, 2022)
Kimberly Fletcher* - President and founder of Moms for America (Jan. 14, 2022)
Charles Anthony Flynn - Chief Operating Officer for the Active Guard and Reserve (Oct. 28, 2022)
Michael Flynn* - Former National Security Advisor and Trump associate (Mar. 10, 2022)
Albert Foley - Rioter; January 6th defendant (May 10, 2022)
Ruby Freeman - Georgia election worker (May 31, 2022)
Nick Fuentes* - White nationalist Groyper leader and “America First” (Feb. 16, 2022)
Jason Funes - Special Assistant for Intergovernmental and External Affairs at the Department of the Interior (Feb. 23, 2022)
Robert Gabriel - Stephen Miller’s Assistant (Apr. 6, 2022)
Sean Gallagher - US Capitol Police Deputy Chief (Jan. 11, 2022)
Rudy Giuliani - Personal attorney to Donald Trump (May 20, 2022)
Robert Glover - Head of the Metropolitan Police Department Special Operations Division (May 2, 2022)
Bianca Gracia* - Latinos for Trump leader (Apr. 7, 2022)
Sal Greco - New York Police Department Officer and Roger Stone associate (May 16, 2022)
Stephanie Grisham - White House Press Secretary (May 18, 2022)
Alyssa Farah Griffin - White House Director of Strategic Communications (Apr. 15, 2022)
Arina Grossu - Senior Communications Advisor for the Department of Health and Human Services (Apr. 29, 2022)
Kimberly Guilfoyle - Adviser to Donald Trump and significant other of Donald Trump Jr. (Apr. 18, 2022)
Vincent Haley - Deputy Assistant to President for Policy, Strategy, and Speechwriting (Apr. 12, 2022)
Trevor Hallgren - Rioter; January 6 Defendant (Apr. 7, 2022)
William B. Harrison - Deputy Assistant to the President for Operations (Apr. 7, 2022)
William B. Harrison - Deputy Assistant to the President for Operations (Aug. 18, 2022)
Donnell Harvin - Chief of Homeland Security and Intelligence for the District of Columbia; executive director of the National Capital Region Threat Intelligence Center (Jan. 24, 2022)
Valerie Hasberry - Head of security for Architect of the Capitol (Apr. 14, 2022)
Frances Haugen - Former employee for the Misinformation Team at Facebook (Nov. 22, 2021)
Frances Haugen - Former employee for the Misinformation Team at Facebook (Dec. 17, 2021)
Daniel J. Herendeen - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Mar. 16, 2022)
Eric Herschmann - White House lawyer and Senior Advisor to President (Apr. 6, 2022)
Hope Hicks - Counselor to the President (Oct. 25, 2022)
Andrew Hitt - Chairperson, Wisconsin false electors and Wisconsin Republican Party Chair (Feb. 28, 2022)
Chris Hodgson - Director of Legislative Affairs for Mike Pence (Mar. 30, 2022)
Alex Holder - Filmmaker and documentarian (Jun. 23, 2022)
Annie Christine Howell - Rioter; January 6th Defendant (Jan. 14, 2022)
Craig Hunter - Task Force Commander for the Task Force Guardian of the District of Columbia National Guard (Jan. 20, 2022)
Cassidy Hutchinson - Assistant to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows (Feb. 23, 2022)
Cassidy Hutchinson - Assistant to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows (Mar. 7, 2022)
Cassidy Hutchinson - Assistant to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows (May 17, 2022)
Cassidy Hutchinson - Assistant to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows (June 20, 2022)
Cassidy Hutchinson - Assistant to Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in the Trump Administration (Sept. 14, 2022)
Cassidy Hutchinson - Assistant to Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in the Trump Administration (Sept. 15, 2022)

Special addition: Single file containing all six Hutchinson interviews and public hearing.

Paul Irving - House Sergeant-at-Arms (Mar. 4, 2022)
John A. Isakson - Georgia Republican Elector in 2020 Presidential Election - non-participant in false electors (Apr. 25, 2022)
Brian Jack - Director of Political Affairs for President (Feb. 11, 2022)
Greg Jacob - Chief Counsel to Vice President Pence (Feb. 1, 2022)
J. Johnson - Employee for the Safety Policy Team at Facebook (Sept. 7, 2022)
Scott Johnston -Organizer with the group Women for America First of Ellipse rally (Apr. 5, 2022)
Alex Jones* - InfoWars and Trump associate (Jan. 24, 2022)
Ryan Kelley* - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Apr. 21, 2022)
Keith Kellogg, Jr. - National Security Advisor to Vice President Pence (Dec. 14, 2022)
Bernard Kerik - Lead Investigator of Rudolph Giuliani’s Legal Team (Jan. 13, 2022)
Charlie Kirk* - Executive director of Turning Point USA (May 24, 2022)
Kenneth Klukowski - Senior counsel under Jeffrey Clark in Civil Division of Department of Justice (Dec. 15, 2021)
Kenneth Klukowski - Senior counsel under Jeffrey Clark in Civil Division of Department of Justice (Jun. 10, 2022)
Jacqueline Shay Kotkiewicz - Research Analyst for the Trump Campaign (Jun. 2, 2022)
Chris Krebs - Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) at Department of Homeland Security (DHS) (Dec. 9, 2021)
Amy Kremer - Women for America First founder (Feb. 18, 2022)
Kylie Kremer - Women for America First Founder (Jan. 12, 2022)
Carla Krzywicki - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Mar. 2, 2022)
David Scott Kuntz* - Three Percenter (Apr. 11, 2022)
Jared Kushner - Senior Advisor to President (Mar. 31, 2022)
Antonio LaMotta* - Rioter; January 6 defendant (May 26, 2022)
Jean Lavin - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Apr. 6, 2022)
Audra Joy Lemons-Johnson - Michigan Liberty Militia member (Apr. 20, 2022)
Robert Patrick Lewis* - 1st Amendment Praetorian leader (Apr. 15, 2022)
Jeremy Liggett - Three Percenters leader (May 17, 2022)
Philip Luelsdorff* - 1st Amendment Praetorian (Apr. 18, 2022)
Nicholas Luna - Personal Aide to President (Mar. 21, 2022)
Anton Lunyk - Rioter; January 6th defendant (Oct. 6, 2022)
Derek Lyons - White House Staff Secretary and Counselor to the President (Mar. 17, 2022)
Patrick MacDonnell - Member of the White House Office of Speechwriting (April 4, 2022)
Douglas Macgregor - Advisor to the Secretary of Defense (Jun. 7, 2022)
Joshua Macias* - Vets for Trump (May 2, 2022)
Frank Marchisella - Oath Keeper (Apr. 29, 2022)
Ed Martin - Missouri Republican Party Chair (Feb. 23, 2022) (did not appear before Committee)
Shawna Martin* - Alleged QAnon supporter, Panhandle Patriots of Idaho member (Apr. 19, 2022)
Zac Martin - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Mar. 9, 2022
Doug Mastriano - Pennsylvania State Senator (Aug. 9, 2022)
Sarah Matthews - Deputy Press Secretary in the Trump White House (Feb. 8, 2022)
John Matze* - Parler CEO (May 25, 2022)
Angela McCallum - Intern for the White House Office of Cabinet Affairs (Dec. 8, 2021)
Ryan McCarthy - Secretary of the Army (Feb. 4, 2022)
James Charles McConville - Chief of Staff of the Army (Nov. 4, 2021)
Ronna Romney McDaniel - Republican National Committee Chair (Jun. 1, 2022)
Michael McDonald* - Chairperson, Nevada false electors (Feb. 24, 2022)
Kayleigh McEnany - White House Press Secretary (Jan. 12, 2022)
John McEntee - Director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office (Mar. 28, 2022)
Mark Meadows - White House Chief of Staff (Nov. 12, 2021) (did not appear before Committee)
Mark Meadows - White House Chief of Staff (Dec. 8, 2021) (did not appear before Committee)
George Meza - Proud Boy (Mar. 16, 2022)
Molly Michael - Deputy Assistant and Executive Assistant to the President (Mar. 24, 2022)
David Millard - United States Capitol Police Officer (Apr. 18, 2022)
Christopher Miller - Acting Secretary of Defense (Jan. 14, 2022)
Jason Miller - Senior Advisor to the Trump Campaign (Feb. 3, 2022)
Max Miller - Senior Advisor to the President (Jan. 20, 2022)
Stephen Miller - Senior Advisor to President (Ap. 14, 2022)
Mark A. Milley - Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Nov. 17, 2021)
Cleta Mitchell - Attorney for the Trump Campaign (May 18, 2022)
Steven Mnuchin - Secretary of the Treasury (Jul. 18, 2022)
Jennifer Moore - FBI Special Agent of the intelligence division at the Washington Field Office (Jul. 26, 2022)
Jeffrey Lawrence Morelock - Oath Keeper (Jan. 26, 2022)
Matthew Morgan - General Counsel of the Trump Campaign (Apr. 25, 2022)
Wandrea Arshaye Moss - Georgia election worker (Jun. 1, 2022)
Mick Mulvaney - Former Acting White House Chief of Staff and and Special Envoy for Northern Ireland (Jul. 28, 2022)
Timothy Murtaugh - Director of Communications for the Trump Campaign (May 19, 2022)
Anika Collier Navaroli - Former Twitter Employee (Sept. 1, 2022)
Peter K. Navarro - Director of the White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy (Mar. 2, 2022) (did not appear before Committee)
Ian Northon - Lawyer working with Michigan false electors (Apr. 27, 2022)
Robert O’Brien - National Security Advisor (Aug. 23, 2022)
Anthony Ornato - White House Deputy Chief of Operations (Nov. 29, 2022)
BJ Pak - U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of Georgia (May 19, 2022)
Andrew Zachary Parkinson - Deputy Director of Communications and Director of Research for the Trump Campaign (May 18, 2022)
Kashyap Patel - Chief of Staff to the Acting Secretary of Defense (Dec. 9, 2021)
Robert Peede - White House Director of Presidential Advance (Jan. 19, 2022)
Walter Piatt - Director of the Army Staff (Nov. 3, 2021)
Katrina Pierson - Liaison for the White House and “Save America” rally organizer (Mar. 25, 2022)
Yogananda Pittman - Capitol Police Assistant Chief for Intelligence (Jan. 13, 2022)
Michael Pompeo - Secretary of State (Aug. 9, 2022)
Madison Fox Porter - Associate Staff Secretary and Special Assistant to President (May 5, 2022)
Matthew Pottinger - Deputy National Security Advisor (Apr. 7, 2022)
Jewll Powdrell - Chairperson, New Mexico false electors (Feb. 23, 2022) (did not appear before Committee)
Sidney Powell - Attorney and advisor to Donald Trump (May 7, 2022)
Alexandra Preate - Capital HQ Founder and Bannon associate (Apr. 5, 2022)
Alondra Propes - Oath Keeper (Jan. 31, 2022)
Nick Quested - Filmmaker and documentarian (Apr. 5, 2022)
Julie Radford - Chief of Staff to Ivanka Trump (May 24, 2022)
Brad Raffensperger - Georgia Secretary of State (Nov. 30, 2021)
James Rahm, III - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Mar. 4, 2022)
Michael Reed - Republican National Committee Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications (Jul. 20, 2022)
Stewart Rhodes* - Oath Keepers leader (Feb. 2, 2022)
Mark Robinson - D.C. Metropolitan Police Department; Presidential motorcade (Jul. 7, 2022)
Christopher Rodriguez - Director of the District of Columbia’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency (Jan. 25, 2022)
Mayra Rodriguez* - Secretary, Michigan false electors (Feb. 22, 2022)
Michael Roman* - Trump Campaign operative; involved in false electors (Aug. 10, 2022)
Jeffrey A. Rosen - Acting Attorney General (Oct. 13, 2021)
Greg Rubenacker - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Apr. 6, 2022)
Kelly Ruh - Secretary, Wisconsin false electors (Feb. 28, 2022)
Eugene Scalia - Secretary of Labor (Jun. 30, 2022)
Daniel J. Scavino, Jr. - White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications and Director of Social Media (Dec. 1, 2021) (did not appear before Committee)
Frank J. Scavo III - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Jun. 1, 2022)
Robert Schornak - Rioter; January 6th Defendant (Feb. 1, 2022)
Arthur Schwartz - Founder of Axium Advisors and Donald Trump, Jr. Associate (Feb. 14, 2022)
Douglas C. Sellers, Jr. - White House Assistant Staff Secretary (Jun. 3, 2022)
Mike Sena - Director of the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center (Feb. 24, 2022)
David Shafer - Chairperson, Georgia false electors; State Representative; and Georgia GOP Chair (Feb. 25, 2022)
Michael Sherwin - Acting US Attorney for the District of Columbia (Apr. 19, 2022)
Michael Shirkey - Majority Leader of the Michigan State Senate (Jun. 8, 2022)
Marc Short - Chief of Counsel to Vice President Pence (Jan. 26, 2022)
Michael Simmons - Oath Keeper (Feb. 10, 2022)
Robert Sinners - Georgia State Director of Election Day Operations for the Trump Campaign (Jun. 15, 2022)
George Smith - Oath Keepers member (Apr. 28, 2022)
J. Smith - Senior Policy Domain Specialist at Twitter (May 9, 2022)
Kelly SoRelle - Oath Keepers attorney (deposition 1: Apr. 13, 2022)
Kelly SoRelle - Oath Keepers attorney (deposition 2: Apr. 19, 20220)
Thomas Speciale - National Spokesperson for Veterans For America First (Feb. 24, 2022)
Lawrence Stackhouse - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Mar. 22, 2022)
William (Bill) Stepien - Campaign Manager for the Trump 2020 Presidential Campaign and was the White House Director of Political Affairs in the Trump Administration from 2017 to 2018 (Feb. 10, 2022)
Shawn Still - Secretary, Georgia false electors (Feb. 25, 2022)
Heidi Stirrup - White House Liaison at the Department of Justice (Apr. 25, 2022)
Dustin Stockton - January 6 Rally Organizer (Dec. 14, 2021)
Roger Stone* - Trump associate (Dec. 17, 2021)
Brandon Straka - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Feb. 24, 2022)
Marcia Strickler - Oath Keepers member (May 10, 2022)
Jason Sullivan - Roger Stone associate (Aug. 17, 2022)
Steven Sund - Capitol Police Chief (Apr. 20, 2022)
Andrew Surabian - Senior Advisor for the Great America Alliance (Feb. 8, 2022)
Amy H. Swonger - White House’s Director of the Office of Legislative Affairs (Oct. 28, 2022)
Enrique Tarrio* - Proud Boys leader (Feb. 4, 2022)
Jason Van Tatenhove - Former Spokesman for the Oath Keepers (Mar. 9, 2022) Jason Van Tatenhove - Former Spokesman for the Oath Keepers (Jul. 7, 2022)
George Amos Tenney - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Jul. 13, 2022)
Jay Thaxton - Proud Boy (Mar. 11, 2022)
Virginia Thomas - Board member of CNP Action and conservative activist (Sep. 29, 2022)
Duston Thompson - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Nov. 16, 2022)
Christopher J. Tomney - Director of DHS Special Operations (Apr. 14, 2022)
Donald Trump, Jr . - Executive Vice President of the Trump Organization and eldest son of President Trump (May 3, 2022)
Ivanka Trump - Senior Advisor to President Trump (Apr. 5, 2022)
Robin Vos - Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly (Nov. 30, 2022)
Phil Waldron* - Former U.S. Army colonel involved in disinformation about election fraud (Feb. 18, 2022)
William Walker - United States Army major general; then-Commander of DC National Guard (Dec. 13, 2021)
William Walker - United States Army major general; then-Commander of DC National Guard (April 21, 2022)
Matthew Thomas Walter - Proud Boy chairman (Mar. 9, 2022)
Richard Walters - Chief of Staff of the Republican National Committee (May 25, 2022)
Kelli Ward* - Arizona GOP chairwoman; false elector (Mar. 16, 2022)
James Watkins - Operator of 8chan/8kun and QAnon conspiracy theorist (Jun. 6, 2022)
Larry Weitzner - Lead Ad Maker for the Trump Campaign (Mar. 23, 2022)
Michael Lee Wells - Militia Leader in North Carolina (Apr. 14, 2022)
Jody Williams - TheDonald[.]win Site Owner (Jun. 7, 2022)
Benjamin Williamson - Senior Advisor to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows (Jan. 25, 2022)
Chad Wolf - Acting Secretary of Homeland Security (Jan. 21, 2022)
Ross Worthington - Former White House speechwriter (Feb. 15, 2022)
Caroline Wren - Republican fundraiser and Rally organizer (Dec. 17, 2021)
John D. Wright - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Mar. 31, 2022)
Kevin Zambrano - Chief Digital Officer at the RNC (Apr. 27, 2022)
Garrett Ziegler* - White House aide (Jul. 19, 2022)

* Witness pleaded the Fifth Amendment

White House

Austin Ferrer Piran Basualdo - White House Associate Director of Special Projects in the Correspondence Office (Apr. 8, 2022)
William Bock, IV - Director of Research for the White House Office of Speechwriting (Apr 15, 2022)
Justin Caporale - Former Trump staffer who helped produce Ellipse rally (Mar. 1, 2022)
Pat Cipollone - White House Counsel (Jul. 8, 2022)
Kellyanne Conway - Former Counselor to President Trump (Nov. 28, 2022)
Rachel Craddock - Special Assistant to the President (May 24, 2022)
Shealah Craighead - White House Photographer (June 8, 2022)
Shealah Craighead - White House Photographer (June 29, 2022)
Judson P. Deere - Deputy Assistant to the President and White House Deputy Press Secretary (Mar. 3, 2022)
Robert Gabriel - Stephen Miller’s Assistant (Apr. 6, 2022)
Alyssa Farah Griffin - White House Director of Strategic Communications (Apr. 15, 2022)
Stephanie Grisham - White House Press Secretary (May 18, 2022)
Kimberly Guilfoyle - Adviser to Donald Trump and significant other of Donald Trump Jr. (Apr. 18, 2022)
Vincent Haley - Deputy Assistant to President for Policy, Strategy, and Speechwriting (Apr. 12, 2022)
William B. Harrison - Deputy Assistant to the President for Operations (Apr. 7, 2022)
William B. Harrison - Deputy Assistant to the President for Operations (Aug. 18, 2022)
Eric Herschmann - White House lawyer and Senior Advisor to President (Apr. 6, 2022)
Hope Hicks - Counselor to the President (Oct. 25, 2022)
Chris Hodgson - Director of Legislative Affairs for Mike Pence (Mar. 30, 2022)
Cassidy Hutchinson - Assistant to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows (Feb. 23, 2022)
Cassidy Hutchinson - Assistant to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows (Mar. 7, 2022)
Cassidy Hutchinson - Assistant to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows (May 17, 2022)
Cassidy Hutchinson - Assistant to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows (June 20, 2022)
Cassidy Hutchinson - Assistant to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows (Sept. 14, 2022)
Cassidy Hutchinson - Assistant to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows (Sept. 15, 2022)

Special addition: Single file containing all six Hutchinson interviews and public hearing.

Brian Jack - Director of Political Affairs for President (Feb. 11, 2022)
Greg Jacob - Chief Counsel to Vice President Pence (Feb. 1, 2022)
Keith Kellogg, Jr. - National Security Advisor to Vice President Pence (Dec. 14, 2022)
Jared Kushner - Senior Advisor to President (Mar. 31, 2022)
Nicholas Luna - Personal Aide to President (Mar. 21, 2022)
Derek Lyons - White House Staff Secretary and Counselor to the President (Mar. 17, 2022)
Patrick MacDonnell - Member of the White House Office of Speechwriting (April 4, 2022)
Sarah Matthews - Deputy Press Secretary in the Trump White House (Feb. 8, 2022)
Angela McCallum - Intern for the White House Office of Cabinet Affairs (Dec. 8, 2021)
Kayleigh McEnany - White House Press Secretary (Jan. 12, 2022)
John McEntee - Director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office (Mar. 28, 2022)
Mark Meadows - White House Chief of Staff (Nov. 12, 2021) (did not appear before Committee)
Mark Meadows - White House Chief of Staff (Dec. 8, 2021) (did not appear before Committee)
Molly Michael - Deputy Assistant and Executive Assistant to the President (Mar. 24, 2022)
Max Miller - Senior Advisor to the President (Jan. 20, 2022)
Stephen Miller - Senior Advisor to President (Ap. 14, 2022)
Mick Mulvaney - Former Acting White House Chief of Staff and and Special Envoy for Northern Ireland (Jul. 28, 2022)
Peter K. Navarro - Director of the White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy (Mar. 2, 2022) (did not appear before Committee)
Robert O’Brien - National Security Advisor (Aug. 23, 2022)
Anthony Ornato - White House Deputy Chief of Operations (Nov. 29, 2022)
Robert Peede - White House Director of Presidential Advance (Jan. 19, 2022)
Madison Fox Porter - Associate Staff Secretary and Special Assistant to President (May 5, 2022)
Matthew Pottinger - Deputy National Security Advisor (Apr. 7, 2022)
Julie Radford - Chief of Staff to Ivanka Trump (May 24, 2022)
Daniel J. Scavino, Jr. - White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications and Director of Social Media (Dec. 1, 2021) (did not appear before Committee)
Douglas C. Sellers, Jr. - White House Assistant Staff Secretary (June 3, 2022)
Marc Short - Chief of Counsel to Vice President Pence (Jan. 26, 2022)
Amy H. Swonger - White House’s Director of the Office of Legislative Affairs (Oct. 28, 2022)
Ivanka Trump - Senior Advisor to President Trump (Apr. 5, 2022)
Benjamin Williamson - Senior Advisor to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows (Jan. 25, 2022)
Ross Worthington - Former White House speechwriter (Feb. 15, 2022)
Garrett Ziegler* - White House aide (July 19, 2022)

* Witness pleaded the Fifth Amendment

Department of Justice

William Barr - Attorney General (Jun. 2, 2022)
David Bowdich - FBI Deputy Director (Dec. 16, 2021)
Jeffrey Clark* - Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division of the Department of Justice (Nov. 5, 2021)
Jeffrey Clark - Former Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division (Feb. 2, 2022)
Richard Peter Donoghue - Acting Deputy Attorney General (Oct. 1, 2021)
Steven Engel - Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel (Jan. 13, 2022)
Kenneth Klukowski - Senior counsel under Jeffrey Clark in Civil Division of Department of Justice (Dec. 15, 2021)
Kenneth Klukowski - Senior counsel under Jeffrey Clark in Civil Division of Department of Justice (Jun. 10, 2022)
Jennifer Moore - FBI Special Agent of the intelligence division at the Washington Field Office (Jul. 26, 2022)
BJ Pak - U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of Georgia (May 19, 2022)
Jeffrey A. Rosen - Acting Attorney General (Oct. 13, 2021)
Michael Sherwin - Acting US Attorney for the District of Columbia (Apr. 19, 2022)
Heidi Stirrup - White House Liaison at the Department of Justice (Apr. 25, 2022)

* Witness pleaded the Fifth Amendment

Department of Defense

Mark Esper - Secretary of Defense (Apr.1, 2022)
Charles Anthony Flynn - Chief Operating Officer for the Active Guard and Reserve (Oct. 28, 2022)
Craig Hunter - Task Force Commander for the Task Force Guardian of the DC National Guard (Jan. 20, 2022)
Douglas Macgregor - Advisor to the Secretary of Defense (Jun. 7, 2022)
James Charles McConville - Chief of Staff of the Army (Nov. 4, 2021)
Christopher Miller - Acting Secretary of Defense (Jan. 14, 2022)
Mark A. Milley - Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Nov. 17, 2021)
Kashyap Patel - Chief of Staff to the Acting Secretary of Defense (Dec. 9, 2021)
Walter Piatt - Director of the Army Staff (Nov. 3, 2021)
William Walker - United States Army major general; then-Commander of DC National Guard (Part 1: Dec. 13, 2021)
William Walker - United States Army major general; then-Commander of DC National Guard (Part 2: April 21, 2022)

Department of Homeland Security (includes U.S. Secret Service)

Ken Cuccinelli - Acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security (Dec. 7, 2021)
Stephanie Dobitsch - Acting Deputy Under Secretary for the Office of Intelligence and Analysis at DHS (May 5, 2022)
Chris Krebs - Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) at Department of Homeland Security (DHS) (Dec. 9, 2021)
Christopher J. Tomney - Director of DHS Special Operations (Apr. 14, 2022)
Chad Wolf - Acting Secretary of Homeland Security (Jan. 21, 2022)

Note also relevant:

Anthony Ornato - White House Deputy Chief of Operations (Nov. 29, 2022)
Mark Robinson - D.C. Metropolitan Police Department; Presidential motorcade (July 7, 2022)

Other Trump Administration Officials

Elaine Chao - Secretary of Transportation (Aug. 4, 2022)
Jason Funes - Special Assistant for Intergovernmental and External Affairs at the Department of the Interior (Feb. 23, 2022)
Arina Grossu - Senior Communications Advisor for the Department of Health and Human Services (Apr. 29, 2022)
Ryan McCarthy - Secretary of the Army (Feb. 4, 2022)
Steven Mnuchin - Secretary of the Treasury (Jul. 18, 2022)
Michael Pompeo - Secretary of State (Aug. 9, 2022)
Eugene Scalia - Secretary of Labor (June 30, 2022)

Congress

John K. Donohue - Director of the Intelligence and Interagency Coordination Division for the U.S. Capitol Police
Caroline Elizabeth Edwards - U.S. Capitol Police Officer (Apr. 18, 2022)
Julie Farnam - Assistant Director of U.S. Capitol Police Intelligence Unit (Dec. 15, 2021)
Jamie Fleet - Senior Advisor to the Speaker of the House (Mar. 10, 2022)
Sean Gallagher - U.S. Capitol Police Deputy Chief (Jan. 11, 2022)
Valerie Hasberry - Head of security for Architect of the Capitol (Apr. 14, 2022)
Paul Irving - House Sergeant-at-Arms (Mar. 4, 2022)
David Millard - U.S. Capitol Police Officer (Apr. 18, 2022)
Yogananda Pittman - U.S. Capitol Police Assistant Chief for Intelligence (Jan. 13, 2022)
Steven Sund - U.S. Capitol Police Chief (Apr. 20, 2022)

Washington DC Officials/Officers

Muriel Bowser - Washington D.C. Mayor (Jan. 12, 2022)
Robert Contee - Chief of D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (Jan. 11, 2022)
Robert Glover - Head of the Metropolitan Police Department Special Operations Division (May 2, 2022)
Donnell Harvin - Chief of Homeland Security and Intelligence for the District of Columbia; executive director of the National Capital Region Threat Intelligence Center (Jan. 24, 2022)
Mark Robinson - D.C. Metropolitan Police Department; Presidential motorcade (July 7, 2022)
Christopher Rodriguez - Director of the District of Columbia’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency (Jan. 25, 2022)

False Electors

Kathy Berden* - Chairperson, Michigan false electors (Mar. 11, 2022)
Jim DeGraffenreid* - Secretary, Nevada false electors (Feb. 24, 2022)
Andrew Hitt - Chairperson, Wisconsin false electors (Feb. 28, 2022)
John A. Isakson - Georgia Republican Elector in 2020 Presidential Election - non-participant in false electors (Apr. 25, 2022)
Michael McDonald* - Chairperson, Nevada false electors (Feb. 24, 2022)
Jewll Powdrell - Chairperson, New Mexico false electors (Feb. 23, 2022) (did not appear before Committee)
Mayra Rodriguez* - Secretary, Michigan false electors (Feb. 22, 2022)
Kelly Ruh - Secretary, Wisconsin false electors (Feb. 28, 2022)
David Shafer - Chairperson, Georgia false electors; State Representative; and Georgia GOP Chair (Feb. 25, 2022)
Shawn Still - Secretary, Georgia false electors (Feb. 25, 2022)
Kelli Ward* - Arizona GOP chairwoman; false elector (Mar. 16, 2022)

Note also relevant:

Laura Cox - Michigan State Representative and GOP Chair (May 3, 2022)
Mark Finchem - Arizona State Representative (Apr. 22, 2022)
Ian Northon - Lawyer working with Michigan false electors (Apr. 27, 2022)
Michael Roman* - Trump Campaign operative; involved in false electors (Aug. 10, 2022)

State Officials/Officers

Jocelyn Benson - Michigan Secretary of State (June 2, 2022)
Rusty Bowers - Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives (June 19, 2022)
Laura Cox - Michigan State Representative and GOP Chair (May 3, 2022)
Bryan Cutler - Pennsylvania State Representative and Speaker of the House (May 31, 2022)
Mark Finchem - Arizona State Representative (Apr. 22, 2022)
Ruby Freeman - Georgia election worker (May 31, 2022)
Doug Mastriano - Pennsylvania State Senator (Aug. 9, 2022)
Wandrea Arshaye Moss - Georgia election worker (Jun. 1, 2022)
Brad Raffensperger - Georgia Secretary of State (Nov. 30, 2021)
Mike Sena - Director of the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center (Feb. 24, 2022)
Michael Shirkey - Majority Leader of the Michigan State Senate (June 8, 2022)
Robin Vos - Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly (Nov. 30, 2022)

Far-Right Political Operatives / Big Lie / Trump Campaign / Trump Associates

Michael Ahrens - Communications Director of the Republican National Committee (Sept. 1, 2022)
Ali Alexander - Stop the Steal Organizer (Dec. 9, 2021)
Hanna Allred - Republican National Committee Chief Copywriter (Mar. 30, 2022)
Benjamin Angle - Chief Media Officer at National Media (Mar. 29, 2022)
Stephen K. Bannon - Donald Trump associate and adviser (Oct. 14, 2021) (did not appear before Committee)
Christina Bobb - Attorney for the Trump Campaign (Apr. 21, 2022)
Austin Boedigheimer - Republican National Committee Digital Deputy Director (Apr. 20, 2022)
Charles Bowman - Women for America First volunteer (May 20, 2022)
Alexander Bruesewitz* - Stop the Steal organizer (Mar. 8, 2022)
Taylor Budowich - Spokesperson for Donald Trump (Dec. 22, 2022)
Patrick Byrne - Donald Trump associate (July 15, 2022)
Alex Cannon - Deputy General Counsel for the Trump 2020 Presidential Campaign (deposition 1: Apr. 13, 2022)
Alex Cannon - Deputy General Counsel for the Trump 2020 Presidential Campaign (deposition 2: Aug. 18, 2022)
Patrick Casey* - White nationalist Groyper and “America First” leader (Mar. 2, 2022)
Cindy Chafian - Spokesperson of the Eighty Percent Coalition (Oct. 28, 2021)
Kenneth Chesebro - Attorney and legal advisor for the Trump Campaign (Oct. 25, 2022)
Dion Cini* - Conservative/far-right activist (May 19, 2022)
Justin Clark - Deputy Campaign Manager for the Trump 2020 Presidential Campaign (May 17, 2022)
Matthew Clarke - Strategic Business Solutions Founder (Aug. 4, 2022)
Gary Coby - RNC Digital Director (Feb. 23, 2022)
Kristin Davis - Roger Stone associate (August 2, 2022)
Enrique De La Torre* - Stop the Steal supporter (May 11, 2022)
Cassie Docksey - Deputy Communications Director of the Republican National Committee (Aug. 25, 2022)
J. Doe - Employee for Salesforce, TMAGAC’s original email service provider (May 20, 2022)
Sean Dollman - Deputy Director of Operations for Trump Campaign (June 29, 2022)
John Eastman* - Personal attorney for Donald Trump (Dec. 9, 2021)
Jenna Ellis* - Attorney working for Trump Campaign (Mar. 8, 2022)
Julie Fancelli* - Billionaire funder of Ellipse rally and donor to Infowars (Feb. 18, 2022)
Joshua Findlay - Associate General Counsel for Trump Campaign (May 25, 2022)
Kimberly Fletcher* - President and founder of Moms for America (Jan. 14, 2022)
Michael Flynn* - Former National Security Advisor and Trump associate (Mar. 10, 2022)
Jacqueline Shay Kotkiewicz - Research Analyst for the Trump Campaign (June 2, 2022)
Nick Fuentes* - White nationalist Groyper leader and “America First” (Feb. 16, 2022)
Rudy Giuliani - Personal attorney to Donald Trump (May 20, 2022)
Bianca Gracia* - Latinos for Trump leader (Apr. 7, 2022)
Sal Greco - New York Police Department Officer and Roger Stone associate (May 16, 2022)
Scott Johnston -Organizer with the group Women for America First of Ellipse rally (Apr. 5, 2022)
Alex Jones* - InfoWars and Trump associate (Jan. 24, 2022)
Bernard Kerik - Lead Investigator of Rudolph Giuliani’s Legal Team (Jan. 13, 2022)
Charlie Kirk* - Executive director of Turning Point USA (May 24, 2022)
Amy Kremer - Women for America First founder (Feb. 18, 2022)
Kylie Kremer - Women for America First Founder (Jan. 12, 2022)
Joshua Macias* - Vets for Trump (May 2, 2022)
Ronna Romney McDaniel - Republican National Committee Chair (Jun. 1, 2022)
Ed Martin - Organizer of Stop the Steal and Phyllis Schafley Eagles (Feb. 23, 2022) (did not appear before Committee)
Jason Miller - Senior Advisor to the Trump Campaign (Feb. 3, 2022)
Cleta Mitchell - Attorney for the Trump Campaign (May 18, 2022)
Matthew Morgan - General Counsel of the Trump Campaign (Apr. 25, 2022)
Timothy Murtaugh - Director of Communications for the Trump Campaign (May 19, 2022)
Ian Northon - Lawyer working with Michigan false electors (Apr. 27, 2022)
Andrew Zachary Parkinson - Deputy Director of Communications and Director of Research for the Trump Campaign (May 18, 2022)
Katrina Pierson - Liaison for the White House and “Save America” rally organizer (Mar. 25, 2022)
Sidney Powell - Attorney and advisor to Donald Trump (May 7, 2022)
Alexandra Preate - Capital HQ Founder and Bannon associate (Apr. 5, 2022)
Michael Reed - Republican National Committee Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications (July 20, 2022)
Michael Roman* - Trump Campaign operative; involved in false electors (Aug. 10, 2022)
Arthur Schwartz - Founder of Axium Advisors and Donald Trump, Jr. Associate (Feb. 14, 2022)
Robert Sinners - Georgia State Director of Election Day Operations for the Trump Campaign (Jun. 15, 2022)
Thomas Speciale - National Spokesperson for Veterans For America First (Feb. 24, 2022)
William (Bill) Stepien - Campaign Manager for the Trump 2020 Presidential Campaign and was the White House Director of Political Affairs in the Trump Administration from 2017 to 2018 (Feb. 10, 2022)
Dustin Stockton - January 6 Rally Organizer (Dec. 14, 2021)
Roger Stone* - Trump associate (Dec. 17, 2021)
Jason Sullivan - Roger Stone associate (Aug. 17, 2022)
Andrew Surabian - Senior Advisor for the Great America Alliance (Feb. 8, 2022)
V irginia Thomas - Board member of CNP Action and conservative activist (Sept. 29, 2022)
Donald Trump, Jr. - Executive Vice President of the Trump Organization and eldest son of President Trump (May 3, 2022)
Phil Waldron* - Former U.S. Army colonel involved in disinformation about election fraud (Feb. 18, 2022)
Richard Walters - Chief of Staff of the Republican National Committee (May 25, 2022)
Larry Weitzner - Lead Ad Maker for the Trump Campaign (Mar. 23, 2022)
Caroline Wren - Republican fundraiser and Rally organizer (Dec. 17, 2021)
Kevin Zambrano - Chief Digital Officer at the RNC (Apr. 27, 2022)

Note also relevant: Jody Williams - TheDonald.win Site Owner (June 7, 2022)

* Witness pleaded the Fifth Amendment

Militia

Samuel Armes - Alleged author of “1776 Returns” document (Jul. 18, 2022)
Christopher Barcenas* - Proud Boy and Miami-Dade Republican Executive Committee member (Mar. 10, 2022)
Landon Bentley - Oath Keeper (May 12, 2022)
Richard Dockery - Oath Keeper (Feb. 2, 2022)
Edward Durfee - Oath Keeper (Mar. 23, 2022)
Josh Ellis - Owner of the MyMilitia website (May 19, 2022)
Ray Epps - Oath Keeper (Jan. 21, 2022)
David Scott Kuntz* - Three Percenter (Apr. 11, 2022)
Audra Joy Lemons-Johnson - Michigan Liberty Militia member (Apr. 20, 2022)
Robert Patrick Lewis* - 1st Amendment Praetorian leader (Apr. 15, 2022)
Jeremy Liggett - Three Percenters leader (May 17, 2022)
Philip Luelsdorff* - 1st Amendment Praetorian (Apr. 18, 2022)
Frank Marchisella - Oath Keeper (Apr. 29, 2022)
Shawna Martin* - Alleged QAnon supporter, Panhandle Patriots of Idaho member (Apr. 19, 2022)
George Meza - Proud Boy (Mar. 16, 2022)
Jeffrey Lawrence Morelock - Oath Keeper (Jan. 26, 2022)
Alondra Propes - Oath Keeper (Jan. 31, 2022)
Stewart Rhodes* - Oath Keepers leader (Feb. 2, 2022)
Michael Simmons - Oath Keeper (Feb. 10, 2022)
George Smith - Oath Keeper (Apr. 28, 2022)
Kelly SoRelle - Oath Keepers attorney (deposition 1: Apr. 13, 2022)
Kelly SoRelle - Oath Keepers attorney (deposition 2: Apr. 19, 20220)
Marcia Strickler - Oath Keeper (May 10, 2022)
Enrique Tarrio* - Proud Boys leader (Feb. 4, 2022)
Jason Van Tatenhove - Former Spokesman for the Oath Keepers (Mar. 9, 2022)
Jason Van Tatenhove - Former Spokesman for the Oath Keepers (Jul. 7, 2022)
Jay Thaxton - Proud Boy (Mar. 11, 2022)
Matthew Thomas Walter - Proud Boy chairman (Mar. 9, 2022)
Michael Lee Wells - Militia Leader in North Carolina (Apr. 14, 2022)

* Witness pleaded the Fifth Amendment

Rioters / January 6th Defendants

Stephen Ayres - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Jun. 17, 2022)
Stephen Ayres - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Jun. 22, 2022)
Eric Barber - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Mar. 16, 2022)
Jeremy Bertino - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Apr. 26, 2022)
Janet West Buhler - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Feb. 28, 2022)
Lewis Easton Cantwell - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Apr. 26, 2022)
Francis Connor - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Jul. 7, 2022)
Thomas Paul Conover, Jr. - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Mar. 8, 2022)
Nicholas DeCarlo - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Oct. 4, 2022)
Albert Foley - Rioter; January 6 defendant (May 10, 2022)
Trevor Hallgren - Rioter; January 6 Defendant (Apr. 7, 2022)
Daniel J. Herendeen - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Mar. 16, 2022)
Annie Christine Howell - Rioter; January 6th Defendant (Jan. 14, 2022)
Ryan Kelley* - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Apr. 21, 2022)
Carla Krzywicki - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Mar. 2, 2022)
Antonio LaMotta* - Rioter; January 6 defendant (May 26, 2022)
Jean Lavin - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Apr. 6, 2022)
Anton Lunyk - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Oct. 6, 2022)
Zac Martin - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Mar. 9, 2022)
James Rahm, III - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Mar. 4, 2022)
Greg Rubenacker - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Apr. 6, 2022)
Frank J. Scavo III - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Jun. 1, 2022)
Robert Schornak - Rioter; January 6 Defendant (Feb. 1, 2022)
Lawrence Stackhouse - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Mar. 22, 2022)
Brandon Straka - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Feb. 24, 2022)
George Amos Tenney - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Jul. 13, 2022)
Duston Thompson - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Nov. 16, 2022)
John D. Wright - Rioter; January 6 defendant (Mar. 31, 2022)

* Witness pleaded the Fifth Amendment

Social Media

Brian Fishman - Employee for the Civic Integrity Team at Facebook (Apr. 26, 2022)
Frances Haugen - Former employee for the Misinformation Team at Facebook (Nov. 22, 2021)
Frances Haugen - Former employee for the Misinformation Team at Facebook (Dec. 17, 2021)
J. Johnson - Employee for the Safety Policy Team at Facebook (Sept. 7, 2022)
John Matze* - Parler CEO (May 25, 2022)
Anika Collier Navaroli - Former Twitter Employee (Sept. 1, 2022)
J. Smith - Senior Policy Domain Specialist at Twitter (May 9, 2022)
James Watkins - Operator of 8chan/8kun and QAnon conspiracy theorist (June 6, 2022)
Jody Williams - TheDonald[.]win Site Owner (June 7, 2022)

* Witness pleaded the Fifth Amendment

Other Witnesses

Alex Holder - Filmmaker and documentarian (Jun. 23, 2022)
Nick Quested - Filmmaker and documentarian (Apr. 5, 2022)

Congressional Hearings

House Homeland Security Committee (February 4, 2021)

House Homeland Security Committee
Title: “Examining the Domestic Terrorism Threat in the Wake of the Attack on the U.S. Capitol”
February 4, 2021
YouTube CSPAN

Witnesses:

Christopher Rodriguez, PhD (Testimony)
Director
Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency (HSEMA)
District of Columbia

Ms. Elizabeth Neumann (Testimony)
Founder and Managing Director, New Summit Strategies
Former Assistant Secretary for Counterterrorism and Threat Prevention
U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

Mr. Jonathan Greenblatt (Testimony)
Chief Executive Officer
Anti-Defamation League

Mr. Brian Michael Jenkins (Testimony)
Senior Advisor to the RAND President
The RAND Corporation

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and Senate Rules and Administration Committee (February 23, 2021)

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and Senate Rules and Administration Committee
Title: “A Joint Hearing to Examine the January 6, 2021 Attack on the Capitol”
February 23, 2021
CSPAN

Witnesses:

Robert J. Contee III (Testimony)
Acting Chief of Police
Metropolitan Police Department (MPD)
Washington, D.C.

Steven A. Sund (Testimony)
Former Chief of Police (2019-2021)
United States Capitol Police (USCP)

Michael C. Stenger (Testimony)
Former Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper (2018-2021)
U.S. Senate

Paul D. Irving (Testimony)
Former Sergeant at Arms (2012-2021)
U.S. House of Representatives

Captain Carneysha Mendoza (Testimony)
Field Commander
Special Operations Division
United States Capitol Police (USCP)

House Energy & Commerce Committee (February 24, 2021)

House Energy & Commerce Committee
Title: “Fanning the Flames: Disinformation and Extremism in the Media”
February 24, 2021
CSPAN Youtube

Witnesses:

Soledad O’Brien (Testimony)
Anchor, Matter of Fact
CEO, Soledad O’Brien Productions

Emily Bell (Testimony)
Director
Tow Center for Digital Media
Columbia University

Kristin Danielle Urquiza (Testimony)
Co-Founder
Marked by COVID

Jonathan Turley (Testimony)
Professor
The George Washington University Law School

House Appropriations Committee (Feb. 25, 2021)

House Appropriations Committee - Feb. 25, 2021
"U.S. Capitol Police and House Sergeant at Arms, Security Failures on January 6”

CSPAN

Witnesses:

The Honorable Timothy Blodgett (Testimony)
Acting Sergeant at Arms, House of Representatives

Yogananda D. Pittman (Testimony)
Acting Chief of Police
United States Capitol Police (USCP)

Senate Judiciary Committee (March 2, 2021)

Senate Judiciary Committee
Title: “Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation: the January 6 Insurrection, Domestic Terrorism, and Other Threats”
March 2, 2021
CSPAN

Witness:

Hon. Chistopher Wray (Testimony)
Director
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

House Committee on Appropriations (March 3, 2021)

House Committee on Appropriations
Title: “U.S. Capitol Police FY 2022 Hearing”
March 3, 2021
C-Span

Witnesses:

Yogananda D. Pittman (Testimony)
Acting Chief
United States Capitol Police (USCP)

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and Senate Rules and Administration Committee (March 3, 2021)

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and Senate Rules and Administration Committee
Title: “Examining the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol, Part II”
March 3, 2021
YouTube CSPAN Part 1 CSPAN Part 2

Witnesses:

Melissa Smislova (Testimony)
Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Under Secretary
Office of Intelligence and Analysis
U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

Jill Sanborn (Testimony)
Assistant Director, Counterterrorism Division
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)

Robert G. Salesses (Testimony)
Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Assistant Secretary for Homeland Defense and Global Security
U.S. Department of Defense (DOD)

Major General William J. Walker (Testimony)
Commanding General
District of Columbia National Guard (DCNG)

House Homeland Security Committee; Subcommittee on Intelligence and Counterterrorism (March 24, 2021)

House Homeland Security Committee; Subcommittee on Intelligence and Counterterrorism
Title: “State and Local Responses to Domestic Terrorism: The Attack on the U.S. Capitol and Beyond”
March 24, 2021
YouTube CSPAN

Witnesses:

Hon. Dana Nessel (Testimony)
Attorney General
State of Michigan

Hon. Aaron Ford (Testimony)
Attorney General
State of Nevada

Hon. John Chisholm (Testimony)
District Attorney
Milwaukee County, Wisconsin

House Energy & Commerce Committee (March 25, 2021)

House Energy & Commerce Committee
Title: “Disinformation Nation: Social Media’s Role in Promoting Extremism and Misinformation”
March 25, 2021
CSPAN Youtube

Witnesses:

Mark Zuckerberg (Testimony)
Chairman and CEO
Facebook

Sundar Pichai (Testimony)
CEO
Google

Jack Dorsey (Testimony)
CEO
Twitter

Committee on House Administration (April 15, 2021)

Committee on House Administration
Title: “Oversight of the United States Capitol Police and Preparations for and Response to the Attack of January 6th”
April 15, 2021
YouTube Part 1 Youtube Part 2 CSPAN

Witness:

Mr. Michael Bolton (Testimony)
Inspector General
United States Capitol Police (USCP)

Senate Committee on Appropriations (April 21, 2021)

Senate Committee on Appropriations
Title: “Fiscal Year 2022 Budget Requests”
April 21, 2021
C-Span

Witnesses:

Yogananda Pittman (Testimony)
Acting Chief
United States Capitol Police (USCP)

The Honorable J. Brett Blanton (Testimony)
Architect of the Capitol

The Honorable Karen Gibson (Testimony)
Senate Sergeant at Arms

Senate Judiciary Committee; Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law (April 27, 2021)

Senate Judiciary Committee; Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law
Title: “Algorithms and Amplification: How Social Media Platforms’ Design Choices Shape Our Discourse and Our Minds”
April 27, 2021
CSPAN Youtube

Witnesses:

Ms. Monika Bickert (Testimony)
Vice President for Content Policy
Facebook

Ms. Lauren Culbertson (Testimony)
Head of U.S. Public Policy
Twitter

Ms. Alexandra Veitch (Testimony)
Director of Government Affairs and Public Policy for the Americas and Emerging Markets
Youtube

Mr. Tristan Harris (Testimony)
Co-Founder and President
Center for Humane Technology

Dr. Joan Donovan (Testimony)
Research Director
Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy
Lecturer in Public Policy
John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University

Committee on House Administration (May 10, 2021)

Committee on House Administration
Title: “Oversight of the January 6th Attack: United States Capitol Police Threat Assessment and Counter-Surveillance Before and During the Attack”
May 10, 2021
YouTube CSPAN

Witness:

Mr. Michael Bolton (Testimony)
Inspector General
United States Capitol Police (USCP)

House Committee on Oversight and Reform (May 12, 2021)

House Committee on Oversight and Reform (May 12, 2021)
“The Capitol Insurrection: Unexplained Delays and Unanswered Questions
CSPAN | Transcript

Witnesses:

The Honorable Christopher C. Miller (Testimony)
Former Acting Secretary
Department of Defense (DOD)

The Honorable Jeffrey A. Rosen (Testimony)
Former Acting Attorney General
Department of Justice (DOJ)

Mr. Robert J. Contee III (Testimony)
Chief
Metropolitan Police Department (MPD)

Committee on House Administration (May 12, 2021)

Committee on House Administration
Title: “Oversight of the January 6th Attack: Review of the Architect of the Capitol’s Emergency Preparedness”
May 12, 2021
YouTube CSPAN

Witness:

Mr. Christopher Failla (Testimony)
Inspector General
Architect of the Capitol

House Rules Committee (May 18, 2021)

House Rules Committee
Title: “H.R. 3237—Emergency Security Supplemental to Respond to January 6th Appropriations Act, 2021; H.R. 3233—National Commission to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol Complex Act”
May 18, 2021
YouTube

Witnesses: None

Committee on House Administration (May 19, 2021)

Committee on House Administration
Title: “Reforming the Capitol Police and Improving Accountability for the Capitol Police Board”
May 19, 2021
YouTube CSPAN

Witnesses:

Major General William J. Walker (Testimony)
Sergeant at Arms
U.S. House of Representatives

Mr. J. Brett Blanton (Testimony)
Architect of the Capitol
U.S. Capitol

Dr. Linda Singh (Testimony)
CEO
Kaleidoscope, LLC

Ms. Lynda R. Williams (Testimony)
President
NOBLE

Lieutenant General Jeffrey Buchanan (Ret.) (Testimony)

House Judiciary Committee (June 10, 2021)

House Judiciary Committee
Title: Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
June 10, 2021
Youtube CSPAN

Witness:

Hon. Christopher Wray (Testimony )
Director
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

Committee on House Administration (June 15, 2021)

Committee on House Administration
Title: “Oversight of the January 6th Attack: United States Capitol Police Containment Emergency Response Team and First Responders Unit”
June 15, 2021
YouTube CSPAN

Witnesses:

Mr. Michael Bolton (Testimony)
Inspector General
United States Capitol Police (USCP)

Dr. Gretta Goodwin (Testimony)
Director
Justice and Law Enforcement Issues
U.S. Government Accountability Office (U.S. GAO)

House Committee on Oversight and Reform (June 15, 2021)

House Committee on Oversight and Reform
Title: “The Capitol Insurrection: Unexplained Delays and Unanswered Questions”
June 15, 2021
YouTube CSPAN | Transcript

Witnesses:

General Charles E. Flynn (Testimony)
Commanding General
United States Army Pacific

Lieutenant General Walter E. Piatt (Testimony)
Director of Army Staff
United States Army

Hon. Christopher Wray (Testimony)
Director
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

Senate Rules and Administration Committee (June 16, 2021)

Senate Rules and Administration Committee
Title: “An oversight hearing to examine the U.S. Capitol Police following the January 6th attack on the Capitol.”
June 16, 2021
CSPAN

Witness:

Mr. Michael Bolton (Testimony)
Inspector General
United States Capitol Police (USCP)

Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (July 27, 2021)

Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol
Title: "The Law Enforcement Experience on January 6th"
July 27, 2021
CSPAN

Witnesses:

Officer Harry Dunn (Testimony)
United States Capitol Police (USCP)

Officer Michael Fanone (Testimony)
Metropolitan Police Department (MPD)

Sergeant Aquilino Gonell (Testimony)
United States Capitol Police (USCP)

Officer Daniel Hodges (Testimony)
Metropolitan Police Department (MPD)

Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (June 9, 2022)

First Open Hearing of June Series
CSPAN Youtube
Transcript

Witnesses:

Caroline Edwards
US Capitol Police Officer

Nick Quested
Filmmaker and Documentarian

Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (June 13, 2022)

Second Open Hearing of June Series
CSPAN YouTube
Transcript

Witnesses:

Panel 1

Mr. William Stepien (canceled due to family emergency)
Former Trump Campaign Manager

Mr. Chris Stirewalt
Former Fox News Political Editor

Panel 2

Mr. Benjamin Ginsberg
Election Attorney

BJay Pak
Former United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia

Al Schmidt
Former City Commissioner of Philadelphia

Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (June 16, 2022)

Third Open Hearing of June Series
CSPAN YouTube
Transcript

Witnesses:

Michael Luttig (Statement)
Former US Circuit Judge

Mr. Greg Jacob (Statement)
Former Counsel to Vice President Pence

Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (June 21, 2022)

Fourth Open Hearing of June Series
CSPAN YouTube
Transcript

Witnesses:

Panel 1

Hon. Rusty Bowers
Arizona House Speaker

Hon. Brad Raffensperger
Georgia Secretary of State

Mr. Gabriel Sterling
Georgia Secretary of State Chief Operating Officer

Panel 2

Ms. Wandrea ArShaye “Shaye” Moss
Former Georgia election worker

Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (June 23, 2022)

Fifth Open Hearing of June Series
CSPAN YouTube
Transcript

Witnesses:

Hon. Jeffrey A. Rosen
Former Acting Attorney General

Hon. Richard Donoghue
Former Acting Deputy Attorney General

Hon. Steven Engel
Former Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel

Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (June 28, 2022)

Sixth Open Hearing of June Series
CSPAN YouTube
Transcript (NPR) (Rev)

Witness:

Ms. Cassidy Hutchinson
Former Aide to Chief of Staff Mark Meadows

Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (July 12, 2022)

First Open Hearing of July Series

CSPAN YouTube

Transcript (NPR)

Witnesses:

Mr. Stephen Ayres
Former Supporter of President Trump

Mr. Jason Van Tatenhove
Former Spokesman of the Oath Keepers

Congressional Documents (including House Select Committee)

Background: Annie Grayer and Paul LeBlanc, A running list of who the January 6 committee has subpoenaed or requested to appear, CNN

1. Senator Mark Warner (D-VA), incoming Chair of Senate Intelligence Committee, Urges Wireless Carriers and Technology Companies to Preserve Evidence Related to the Attack on the U.S. Capitol (Jan. 9. 2021)
Letters sent to AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, Apple, Facebook, Gab, Google, Parler, Signal, Telegram, and Twitter.

2. Trump Second Impeachment Trial
Core Documents and Other Documents via Union College Schaffer Library
Video Evidence Presented at Trial via Washington Post
Rep. Jamie Herrera Beutler (R-WA), Statement Confirming Conversation with Rep. Kevin McCarthy, entered into evidence in Senate impeachment trial (Feb. 12, 2021)

3. House Committee on Oversight and Reform, Letter to Parler Requesting Documents (Feb. 8, 2021)

4. Chairs of Six House Committees, Document Requests to Agencies (Mar. 25, 2021)

5. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee; Senate Rules and Administration Committee Joint Report (released on Jun. 8, 2021)

Related reading: FactCheck.Org, Facebook Post Misleads on Bipartisan Capitol Attack Report and Interview (Jun. 10, 2021)

6. House Committee on Oversight and Reform, Fact Sheet and Timeline: Delayed National Guard Response to January 6 Insurrection (released on Jun. 16, 2021)

7. House Committee on Oversight and Reform, "President Trump Pressure Campaign on the Department of Justice" (released on Jun. 15, 2021)
(Press Release) (Selected Documents) (see also Committee’s initial letter of request to DOJ)

8. House Resolution 503 - Establishing the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (introduced Jun. 28, 2021)

9. Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard P. Donoghue, Handwritten notes of phone call with President Trump on Dec. 27, 2020 and phone call with White House on Dec. 29, 2020 (transcription of positions of handwritten notes, by House Committee on Oversight and Reform)

10. GAO, Capitol Attack: Special Event Designations Could Have Been Requested for January 6, 2021, But Not All DHS Guidance Is Clear(Aug. 9, 2021)

11. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Demands to the Executive Branch for Records (a single PDF with all demand letters) (press release) (Aug. 25, 2021):

12. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Demands Records from Social Media Companies (a single PDF with all demand letters) (press release) (Aug. 26-27, 2021):

13. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Telecom and Social Media Companies Preservation Requests (a single PDF with all demand letters) (Aug. 30, 2021).

14. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Subpoenas to individuals connected to President Trump (press release) (Sept. 23, 2021)

Subpoena letters to four witnesses:

Mark Meadows
Daniel Scavino
Kashyap Patel
Stephen Bannon

15. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Subpoenas to organizers of rallies and events preceding January 6th insurrection (press release) (Sept. 29, 2021)

Subpoena letters to 11 organizers:

Amy Kremer
Kylie Kremer
Cynthia Chafian
Caroline Wren
Maggie Mulvaney
Justin Caporale
Tim Unes
Megan Powers
Hannah Salem
Lyndon Brentnall
Katrina Pierson

16. Senate Judiciary Report on White House efforts toward Department of Justice (Oct. 7, 2021)

Majority Report: Subverting Justice: How the Former President and His Allies Pressured DOJ to Overturn the 2020 Election

Minority Report: In Their Own Words: A Factual Summary of Testimony from Senior Justice Department Officials Relating to Events from December 14, 2020 to January 3, 2021

Transcript of interview with former Acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen
Transcript of interview with former Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue
Transcript of interview with former U.S. Attorney BJay Pak

17. Conflict over Stephen Bannon testimony

Stephen Bannon letter to House Select Committee in response to subpoena (Oct. 7, 2021)
News report of House Select Committee letter to Bannon rejecting privilege claims (Oct. 15, 2021) & White House Counsel letter to Bannon on executive privilege claims (Oct. 18, 2021)
House Select Committee, Resolution Recommending Stephen Bannon Found in Contempt of Congress and accompanying Report (available on Oct. 18, 2021)
Department of Justice, Criminal Indictment of Stephen Bannon for Contempt of Congress (Nov. 12, 2021)

18. House Select Committee, Subpoenas to Former Officials with Close Ties to the Former President (Nov. 8, 2021)

William Stepien
Jason Miller
Angela McCallum
John Eastman
Michael Flynn
Bernard Kerik (Kerik lawyers’ letter and “privilege log” submitted to Committee on Dec. 31, 2021)

19. House Select Committee, Subpoenas to Additional Witnesses Tied to Efforts to Overturn Election Results (Nov. 9, 2021)

20. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Subpoenas to Individuals Involved in Planning and Organizing the Rallies and March Preceding January 6th Attack (Nov. 22, 2021) (press release):

21. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Subpoenas to Groups and Individuals Linked to Violent Attack on the Capitol on January 6th (Nov. 23, 2021) (press release)

22. Conflict over Jeffrey Clark testimony

House Select Committee, Subpoena to former Justice Department Official Jeffrey Clark (press release) (Oct. 13, 2021)
Jeffrey Clark’s attorney, Letter to House Select Committee (Nov. 5, 2021) (includes President Trump's attorney Doug Collins' letter to Jeff Clark (Aug. 2, 2021))
Jeffrey Clark’s attorney, Letter to House Select Committee (Nov. 29, 2021)
House Select Committee, Resolution and Report recommending House find Jeffrey Bossert Clark In Contempt of Congress ; H.R. 6119 (Dec. 1, 2021)

23. Conflict over John Eastman testimony

House Select Committee, Subpoena (Nov. 8, 2021)
John Eastman attorney, Letter to House Select Committee (Dec. 1, 2021) (invoking, inter alia, Fifth Amendment)
John Eastman v. Select Committee, Verizon, Complaint, Case 1:21-cv-03273 (filed Dec. 14, 2021)

24. Conflict over Mark Meadows testimony

House Select Committee, Letter to Mark Meadows’ attorney (Nov. 11, 2021)
Mark Meadows’ attorney, statement (Nov. 12, 2021)
Mark Meadows’ attorney, Washington Post op-ed (Nov. 13, 2021)
Mark Meadows’ attorney, Letter to Select Committee (Dec. 7, 2021)
House Select Committee, Letter to Mark Meadows’s attorney (Dec. 7, 2021)
Mark Meadows, Complaint v. Pelosi, Select Committee, Case 1:21-cv-03217 (Dec. 8, 2021) (see also “Civil Cases” section below)
House Select Committee, Report accompanying Resolution to hold Mark Meadows in Contempt of Congress (released Dec. 12, 2021)

25. Ali Alexander, Prepared opening statement (released Dec. 8, 2021

26. House Select Committee, Subpoena of James. P. (“Phil”) Waldron (Dec. 16, 2021)

27. House Select Committee, Letter to Rep. Scott Perry (Dec. 20, 2021)

28. House Select Committee, Letter to Rep. Jim Jordan (Dec. 22, 2021)

29. House Select Committee, Letter to Sean Hannity (Jan. 4, 2022)

30. House Select Committee Subpoenas Individuals Involved in Events Immediately Preceding Violent Attack on the Capitol (Jan. 11, 2022) (press release)

31. House Select Committee, Letter to Rep. Kevin McCarthy (Jan. 12, 2022)

32. House Select Committee, Subpoenas to social media companies (Jan. 13, 2022) (press release)

33. House Select Committee, Subpoenas to Trump associates involved in attempt to challenge or overturn the 2020 election results (Jan. 18, 2021) (press release)

34. House Select Committee, Subpoenas Nicholas J. Fuentes & Patrick Casey (Jan. 19, 2022) (press release)

35. House Select Committee, Letter to Ivanka Trump (Jan. 20, 2022)

36. House Select Committee, Subpoenas to “alternate electors” from seven states (Jan. 28, 2022) (press release)

Nancy Cottle, Chairperson, Arizona
Loraine B. Pellegrino, Secretary, Arizona
David Shafer, Chairperson, Georgia
Shawn Still, Secretary, Georgia
Kathy Berden, Chairperson, Michigan
Mayra Rodriguez, Secretary, Michigan
Jewll Powdrell, Chairperson, New Mexico
Deborah W. Maestas, Secretary, New Mexico
Michael J. McDonald, Chairperson, Nevada
James DeGraffenreid, Secretary, Nevada
Bill Bachenberg, Chairperson, Pennsylvania
Lisa Patton, Secretary, Pennsylvania
Andrew Hitt, Chairperson, Wisconsin
Kelly Ruh, Secretary, Wisconsin

37. House Select Committee, Subpoena to Peter Navarro (Feb. 9, 2022)

38. House Select Committee, Subpoenas to individuals involved in "alternate electors" scheme (press release) (Feb. 15, 2022)

39. House Select Committee, Subpoenas to witnesses who promoted unsupported claims of election fraud (press release) (Mar. 1, 2022)

40. House Select Committee, Subpoena to Kimberly Guilfoyle (Mar. 3, 2022) (press release)

41. House Select Committee, Contempt Referral for Peter Navarro and Daniel Scavino for failure to comply with subpoenas (Mar. 2022)

Department of Justice, Criminal Indictment of Peter Navarro for Contempt of Congress (June 2, 2022)

42. Mary B. McCord, Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection, Expert Statement for House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Mar. 31, 2022)

43. GAO Report, Federal Agencies’ Use of Open Source Data and Related Threat Products Prior to January 6, 2021 (May 2022)

44. House Select Committee, Subpoena to Pasquale “Pat” Cipollone (June 29, 2022)

45. House Select Committee, Subpoena to Secret Service Records (July 15, 2022) (press release)

46. House Select Committee, Statement on United States Secret Service’s Response to Select Committee Subpoena (July 20, 2022) (press release)

47. House Select Committee, Statement on Bannon Conviction (July 22, 2022) (press release)

48. House Select Committee, Letter to Newt Gingrich (Sept. 1, 2022) (press release)

49. Donald J. Trump, Letter to January 6th Select Committee (Oct. 13, 2022)

50. House Select Committee, Subpoena to Donald Trump (Oct. 21, 2022) (press release)

51. House Select Committee, Introductory Material and Executive Summary (Dec. 19, 2022)

52. Report of Investigation: Security Failures at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, Prepared at the direction of Reps. Jim Banks (R-IN), Rodney Davis (R-IL), Jim Jordan (R-OH), Kelly Armstrong (R-ND), Troy Nehls (R-TX) (released Dec. 21, 2022)

53. House Select Committee, Final Report on the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Dec. 22, 2022) [pdf] [html original and via Perma-link]

54. Chair Thompson and Vice-Chair Cheney, Letter to White House Special Counsel Richard Sauber (Dec. 30, 2022)

55. House Select Committee, Social Media & the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol, Summary of Investigative Findings (via Washington Post, Jan. 17, 2023)

Major Votes in Congress

Certification of Presidential Election in House of Representatives (Jan. 6, 2021)

Official source: Clerk's Office House of Representatives

Objecting:

Aderholt
Allen
Arrington
Babin
Baird
Banks
Bergman
Bice (OK)
Biggs
Bishop (NC)
Boebert
Bost
Brooks
Budd
Burchett
Burgess
Calvert
Cammack
Carl
Carter (GA)
Carter (TX)
Cawthorn
Cline
Cloud
Clyde
Cole
Crawford
Davidson
DesJarlais
Diaz-Balart
Donalds
Duncan
Dunn
Estes
Fallon
Fischbach
Fitzgerald
Fleischmann
Franklin, C. Scott
Fulcher
Gaetz
Garcia (CA)
Gibbs
Gimenez
Gohmert
Good (VA)
Gooden (TX)
Gosar
Graves (MO)
Green (TN)
Greene (GA)
Griffith
Guest
Hagedorn
Harris
Harshbarger
Hartzler
Hern
Herrell
Hice (GA)
Higgins (LA)
Hudson
Issa
Jackson
Jacobs (NY)
Johnson (LA)
Johnson (OH)
Jordan
Joyce (PA)
Kelly (MS)
Kelly (PA)
LaMalfa
Lamborn
LaTurner
Lesko
Long
Loudermilk
Lucas
Luetkemeyer
Malliotakis
Mann
Mast
McCarthy
McClain
Miller (IL)
Miller (WV)
Moore (AL)
Mullin
Nehls
Norman
Nunes
Obernolte
Palazzo
Palmer
Perry
Pfluger
Posey
Reschenthaler
Rice (SC)
Rogers (AL)
Rogers (KY)
Rose
Rosendale
Rouzer
Rutherford
Scalise
Sessions
Smith (MO)
Smith (NE)
Steube
Tiffany
Timmons
Van Drew
Walberg
Walorski
Weber (TX)
Webster (FL)
Williams (TX)
Wilson (SC)
Wright
Zeldin

Not Objecting:

* Those listed in italics are Republicans

Adams
Aguilar
Allred
Amodei
Armstrong
Auchincloss
Axne
Bacon
Balderson
Barr
Barragán
Bass
Beatty
Bentz
Bera
Beyer
Bishop (GA)
Blumenauer
Blunt Rochester
Bonamici
Bourdeaux
Bowman
Boyle, Brendan F.
Brown
Brownley
Buchanan
Buck
Bucshon
Bush
Bustos
Butterfield
Carbajal
Cárdenas
Carson
Cartwright
Case
Casten
Castor (FL)
Castro (TX)
Chabot
Cheney
Chu
Cicilline
Clark (MA)
Clarke (NY)
Cleaver
Clyburn
Cohen
Comer
Connolly
Cooper
Correa
Costa
Courtney
Craig
Crenshaw
Crist
Crow
Cuellar
Curtis
Davids (KS)
Davis, Danny K.
Davis, Rodney
Dean
DeFazio
DeGette
DeLauro
DelBene
Delgado
Demings
DeSaulnier
Deutch
Dingell
Doggett
Doyle, Michael F.
Emmer
Escobar
Eshoo
Espaillat
Evans
Feenstra
Ferguson
Fitzpatrick
Fletcher
Fortenberry
Foster
Foxx
Frankel, Lois
Fudge
Gallagher
Gallego
Garamendi
Garbarino
García (IL)
Garcia (TX)
Golden
Gomez
Gonzales, Tony
Gonzalez (OH)
Gonzalez, Vicente
Gottheimer
Graves (LA)
Green, Al (TX)
Grijalva
Grothman
Guthrie
Haaland
Harder (CA)
Hayes
Herrera Beutler
Higgins (NY)
Hill
Himes
Hinson
Hollingsworth
Horsford
Houlahan
Hoyer
Huffman
Huizenga
Jackson Lee
Jacobs (CA)
Jayapal
Jeffries
Johnson (GA)
Johnson (SD)
Johnson (TX)
Jones
Joyce (OH)
Kahele
Kaptur
Katko
Keating
Keller
Kelly (IL)
Khanna
Kildee
Kilmer
Kim (NJ)
Kind
Kinzinger
Kirkpatrick
Krishnamoorthi
Kuster
Kustoff
LaHood
Lamb
Langevin
Larsen (WA)
Larson (CT)
Latta
Lawrence
Lawson (FL)
Lee (CA)
Lee (NV)
Leger Fernandez
Levin (CA)
Levin (MI)
Lieu
Lofgren
Lowenthal
Luria
Lynch
Mace
Malinowski
Maloney, Carolyn B.
Maloney, Sean
Manning
Massie
Matsui
McBath
McCaul
McClintock
McCollum
McEachin
McGovern
McHenry
McKinley
McNerney
Meeks
Meijer
Meng
Meuser
Mfume
Miller-Meeks
Moolenaar
Mooney
Moore (UT)
Moore (WI)
Morelle
Moulton
Mrvan
Murphy (FL)
Murphy (NC)
Nadler
Napolitano
Neal
Neguse
Newhouse
Newman
Norcross
O'Halleran
Ocasio-Cortez
Omar
Owens
Pallone
Panetta
Pappas
Pascrell
Payne
Pelosi
Pence
Perlmutter
Peters
Phillips
Pingree
Pocan
Porter
Pressley
Price (NC)
Quigley
Raskin
Reed
Rice (NY)
Richmond
Rodgers (WA)
Ross
Roy
Roybal-Allard
Ruiz
Ruppersberger
Rush
Ryan
Sánchez
Sarbanes
Scanlon
Schakowsky
Schiff
Schneider
Schrader
Schrier
Schweikert
Scott (VA)
Scott, Austin
Scott, David
Sewell
Sherman
Sherrill
Simpson
Sires
Slotkin
Smith (NJ)
Smith (WA)
Smucker
Soto
Spanberger
Spartz
Speier
Stanton
Stauber
Stefanik
Steil
Stevens
Stewart
Stivers
Strickland
Suozzi
Swalwell
Takano
Taylor
Thompson (CA)
Thompson (MS)
Thompson (PA)
Titus
Tonko
Torres (CA)
Torres (NY)
Trahan
Trone
Turner
Underwood
Upton
Van Duyne
Vargas
Veasey
Vela
Velázquez
Wagner
Waltz
Wasserman Schultz
Waters
Watson Coleman
Welch
Wenstrup
Westerman
Wexton
Wild
Williams (GA)
Wilson (FL)
Wittman
Womack
Yarmuth
Young

Not Voting:

Bilirakis
Brady
Granger
Hastings
Kim (CA)
Steel
Tlaib

Certification of the Presidential Election in Senate (Jan. 6, 2021)

Those supporting the objection:

Cruz
Hawley
Hyde-Smith
Kennedy
Marshall
Tuberville

Second Impeachment of Donald J. Trump in House (Jan. 13, 2021)

Official Source: Clerk's Office House of Representatives

All Democrats voted Yea

All Republicans voted Nay except:

Cheney
Gonzalez (OH)
Herrera Beutler
Katko
Kinzinger
Meijer
Newhouse
Rice (SC)
Upton
Valadao

Second Impeachment Trial of Donald J. Trump in Senate (Feb. 13, 2021)

Official source: U.S. Senate Roll Call Vote

Guilty:

ALL DEMOCRATS
Burr (R-NC)
Cassidy (R-LA)
Collins (R-ME)
King (I-ME)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Romney (R-UT)
Sanders (I-VT)
Sasse (R-NE)
Toomey (R-PA)

Not Guilty:

ALL OTHER REPUBLICANS

Additional Reading: Ryan Goodman and Josh Asabor, “In Their Own Words: The 43 Republicans’ Explanations of Their Votes Not to Convict Trump in Impeachment Trial,” Just Security, Feb. 15, 2021

Legislation To Award Three Congressional Gold Medals to U.S. Capitol Police (House vote on March 17, 2021)

Official Source: Congress.gov (H.R. 1085)

12 Republicans who voted Nay:

Biggs
Cloud
Clyde
Gaetz
Gohmert
Good (VA)
Gooden (TX)
Greene (GA)
Harris
Massie
Rose
Steube

January 6 Commission Thompson-Katko Bill - House (May 19, 2021)

Official Source: Clerk's Office House of Representatives

Yea:

ALL DEMOCRATS EXCEPT GOLDEN AND KELLY (IL) (NOT VOTING)

Bacon
Bentz
Bice (OK)
Cheney
Curtis
Davis, Rodney
Fitzpatrick
Fortenberry
Garbarino
Gimenez
Gonzales, Tony
Gonzalez (OH)
Guest
Herrera Beutler
Hill
Hollingsworth
Jacobs (NY)
Johnson (SD)
Joyce (OH)
Katko
Kinzinger
McKinley
Meijer
Miller-Meeks
Moore (UT)
Newhouse
Reed
Rice (SC)
Salazar
Simpson
Smith (NJ)
Taylor
Upton
Valadao
Womack

Nay:

All other Republican Members of the House (except Webster (FL) not voting)

January 6 Commission Thompson-Katko Bill - Senate (May 28, 2021)

Official Source: U.S. Senate Roll Call Vote

Yea:

ALL DEMOCRATS EXCEPT MURRAY & SINEMA (NOT VOTING)

Cassidy (R-LA)
Collins (R-ME)
King (I-ME)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Portman (R-OH)
Romney (R-UT)
Sanders (I-VT)
Sasse (R-NE)

*Note: Senator Toomey said he would have voted in favor of the legislation if he were present.

Nay:

Barrasso (R-WY)
Boozman (R-AR)
Capito (R-WV)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Cotton (R-AR)
Cramer (R-ND)
Crapo (R-ID)
Cruz (R-TX)
Daines (R-MT)
Ernst (R-IA)
Fischer (R-NE)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Hagerty (R-TN)
Hawley (R-MO)
Hoeven (R-ND)
Hyde-Smith (R-MS)
Johnson (R-WI)
Kennedy (R-LA)
Lankford (R-OK)
Lee (R-UT)
Lummis (R-WY)
Marshall (R-KS)
McConnell (R-KY)
Moran (R-KS)
Paul (R-KY)
Rubio (R-FL)
Scott (R-FL)
Scott (R-SC)
Sullivan (R-AK)
Thune (R-SD)
Tillis (R-NC)
Tuberville (R-AL)
Wicker (R-MS)
Young (R-IN)

Not Voting:

Blackburn (R-TN)
Blunt (R-MO)
Braun (R-IN)
Burr (R-NC)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Murray (D-WA)
Risch (R-ID)
Rounds (R-SD)
Shelby (R-AL)
Sinema (D-AZ)
Toomey (R-PA)*

*Note: Senator Toomey said he would have voted in favor of the legislation if he were present.

Legislation To Award Congressional Gold Medals to U.S. Capitol Police (House vote on June 16, 2021)

Official Source: Clerk's Office House of Representatives (H.R. 3325)

21 Republicans who voted Nay:

Rep. Thomas Massie (Ky.)
Rep. Andy Biggs (Ariz.)
Rep. Lauren Boebert (Colo.)
Rep. Michael Cloud (Tex.)
Rep. Andrew Clyde (Ga.)
Rep. Warren Davidson (Ohio)
Rep. Matt Gaetz (Fla.)
Rep. Louie Gohmert (Tex.)
Rep. Bob Good (Va.)
Rep. Paul Gosar (Ariz.)
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.)
Rep. Andy Harris (Md.)
Rep. Jody Hice (Ga.)
Rep. Mary Miller (Ill.)
Rep. Barry Moore (Ala.)
Rep. Ralph Norman (S.C.)
Rep. Scott Perry (Pa.)
Rep. John Rose (Tenn.)
Rep. Matt Rosendale (Mont.)
Rep. Chip Roy (Texas)
Rep. Greg Steube (Fla.)

Prior Bills Introduced to Create a Jan. 6 Independent Commission

Republicans: HR 275 (introduced January 12, 2021)

HR 275 To establish the National Commission on the Domestic Terrorist Attack Upon the United States Capitol

Cosponsors:

Banks
Bice (OK)
Budd
Cammack
Comer
Davis
Garbarino
Gimenez
Guest
Harshbarger
Herrera Beutler
Higgins
Hill (AR)
Hinson
Jacobs (NY)
Joyce (OH)
Katko
Kinzinger
LaMalfa
LaTurner
McCaul
Meijer
Miller-Meeks
Norman
Pfluger
Smith (NJ)
Steel
Stivers
Van Drew
Van Duyne
Walorski

Democrats: HR 410 (introduced January 21, 2021)

H.R.410 - To establish the National Commission on the Insurrectionist Attack Upon the United States Capitol

Cosponsors:

Bustos
Carson
Garamendi
Jackson Lee
Lowenthal
Lynch
Maloney
Norton
Moulton
Payne
San Nicolas
Thompson (CA)
Tonko
Watson Coleman

Additional Reading: Margaret Shields and Heather Szilagyi, “Comparison of (Similar) Republican and Democratic Draft Legislation on Jan. 6 Commission,” Just Security, Feb. 17, 2021

Bill to Establish House Select Committee

H.R. 503 Establishing the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.

The Resolution passed 222-190.

All Democrats voted in favor.

Two Republicans voted in favor:

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY)
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Il)

All other Republicans voted against, except the following 19 who did not vote:

Arrington
Banks
Carter (GA)
Cloud
Fulcher
Gohmert
Good (VA)
Herrell
Higgins (LA)
Issa
Jackson
Johnson (LA)
Miller (IL)
Pfluger
Rose
Roy
Tiffany
Weber (TX)
Williams (TX)

Source: House Office of the Clerk.

Resolution Holding Stephen Bannon in Criminal Contempt (Oct. 21, 2021)

Official Source: Clerk's Office House of Representatives

All Democrats voted Yea

All Republicans voted Nay except:

Rep. Liz Cheney (Wyoming)
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (Pennsylvania)
Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (Ohio)
Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (Washington)
Rep. John Katko (New York)
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (Illinois)
Rep. Nancy Mace (South Carolina)
Rep. Peter Meijer (Michigan)
Rep. Fred Upton (Michigan)

Table Comparing House Republican votes

House Republicans Who Supported an Independent Commission
Italics = Member voted NOT to certify the 2020 presidential election

Cosponsored HR-275 to establish Commission	Voted for 1/6 Thompson-Katko Commission
Banks, Jim (IN)	Bacon, Don (NE)
Bice, Stephanie (OK)	Bentz, Cliff (OR)
Budd, Ted (NC)	Bice, Stephanie (OK)
Cammack, Kat (FL)	Cheney, Liz (WY)
Comer, James (KY)	Curtis, John (UT)
Garbarino, Andrew (NY)	Davis, Rodney (IL)
Giménez, Carlos (FL)	Fitzpatrick, Brian (PA)
Guest, Michael (MS)	Fortenberry, Jeff (NE)
Harshbarger, Diana (TN)	Garbarino, Andwer (NY)
Herrera Buetler, Jaime (WA)	Giménez, Carlos (FL)
Higgins, Clay (LA)	Gonzales, Tony (TX)
Hill, French (AR)	Gonzalez, Anthony (OH)
Hinson, Ashley (IA)	Guest, Michael (MS)
Jacobs, Chris (NY)	Herrera Buetler, Jaime (WA)
Joyce, David (OH)	Hill, French (AR)
Katko, John (NY)	Hollingsworth, Trey (IN)
Kinzinger, Adam (IL)	Jacobs, Chris (NY)
LaMalfa, Doug (CA)	Johnson, Dusty (SD)
LaTurner, Jake (KS)	Joyce, David (OH)
McCaul, Michael (TX)	Katko, John (NY)
Meijer, Peter (MI)	Kinzinger, Adam (IL)
Miller-Meeks, Mariannette (IA)	McKinley, David (WV)
Norman, Ralph (SC)	Meijer, Peter (MI)
Pfluger, August (TX)	Miller-Meeks, Mariannette (IA)
Smith, Christopher (NJ)	Moore, Blake (UT)
Steel, Michelle (CA)	Newhouse, Dan (WA)
Stivers, Steve (OH)	Reed, Tom (NY)
Van Drew, Jeff (NJ)	Rice, Tom (SC)
Van Duyne, Beth (TX)	Salazar, Maria Elvira (FL)
Walorski, Jackie (IN)	Simpson, Mike (ID)
	Smith, Chris (NJ)
	Taylor, Van (TX)
	Upton, Fred (MI)
	Valadao, David (CA)
	Womack, Steve (AR)

Criminal Cases

1. January 6 Hearings Criminal Evidence Tracker

2. Chart Tracking Trump’s Knowledge and Intent in Efforts to Overturn the Election

3. Seditious conspiracy cases

Oath Keepers: Indictment
Proud Boys: Indictment (June 6, 2022 superseding indictment)
Oath Keeper William Todd Wilson: Statement of Offense

4. Department of Justice, Capitol Breach Cases (DOJ six-month summary of Jun. 6, 2021, one-year summary of Dec. 30, 2021)

5. Attorney General Garland, Election Year Sensitivities Memorandum (May 25, 2022)

6. George Washington University, Program on Extremism

7. The Prosecution Project’s Spreadsheet of federal and non-federal Capitol prosecutions

8. Marcy Wheeler’s analysis of conspiracy cases (Mar. 19, 2021, June 11, 2021, and Jun. 14, 2021)

9. Dinah Voyles Pulver and Bart Jansen, Who invaded the US Capitol on Jan. 6? Criminal cases shed light on offenses, USA Today (Jan. 6, 2022) (see earlier version of Jun. 22, 2021)

10. NPR's Searchable Database: "The Capitol Siege: The Arrested And Their Stories."

Image of NPR's search interface:

11. Attorney General for the State of Michigan Dana Nessel, Petition for Appointment of Special Prosecutor to consider filing criminal charges against nine individuals for attempting to gain improper access to voting machines (Aug. 5, 2022)

Civil Cases

1. Karen Bass et al. Incitement Suit for Jan. 6 Capitol Attack

Bass v. Trump, No. 21-cv-00400 (D.D.C. filed Feb. 16, 2021)

Plaintiff: Rep. Karen R. Bass, Rep. Stephen I. Cohen, Rep. Veronica Escobar, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, Rep. Henry C. Johnson, Jr., Rep. Marcia C. Kaptur, Rep. Barbara J. Lee, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, Rep. Maxine Waters, and Rep. Bonnie M. Watson Coleman, represented by the NAACP.

Case Summary: On Feb. 16, 2021, Mississippi Congressman Bennie Thompson sued former President Trump and Rudy Giuliani along with two right-wing militia groups known as the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, for violating the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, 42 U.S.C. § 1985(1). In the complaint, Thompson alleges that Trump violated the Ku Klux Klan Act by inciting the rioters with the intent to prevent Members of Congress from discharging their official duties of the timely approval of the Electoral College vote. He argues that after Trump’s loss in the Nov. 2020 election, the then-President set out on a campaign to mobilize his supporters, culminating in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. It portrays Trump’s rhetoric on the morning of Jan. 6 as a call to arms and as intended to prevent the certification of the election.

The Act was passed in 1871 in response to violence and intimidation by the KKK intended to stop Black people from voting. The legislation allows Members of Congress to sue individuals who conspire to violently “molest, interrupt, hinder, or impede” the discharge of a public official’s duties.

Thompson seeks compensatory damages for his emotional distress suffered during the attack in addition to punitive damages.

Case Status: On Apr. 7, 2021, ten additional members of Congress joined the lawsuit as plaintiffs. The defendants moved to dismiss on May 26. In Trump’s motion, he argued (i) that he has absolute immunity because he was acting as president; (ii) that even if he did not have absolute immunity, the Westfall Act shields him from any personal liability; (iii) that members of Congress cannot sue under the KKK Act; and (iv) that his speech was protected by the First Amendment. As of September 2021, the court has not yet ruled on the motions.

Update: On July 21, 2021, Rep. Thompson announced that he would withdraw from the lawsuit to avoid any conflict with the Jan. 6 House Select Committee, which Thompson is chairing. The other plaintiffs--all members of Congress who are not on the Committee--confirmed that they would continue the lawsuit.

Update: Judge Mehta–who is also presiding over the Bass, Swalwell and Blassingame 1/6 suits–scheduled a combined oral argument for Jan. 10, 2022, for all three cases.

Update: On Feb. 18, 2022, the district court denied Trump’s motion to dismiss the § 1985 claim against him.

2. Eric Swalwell Incitement Suit for Jan. 6 Riots

Swalwell v. Trump, No 21-cv-00586 (D.D.C. filed Mar. 5, 2021)

Plaintiff: Representative Eric Swalwell (D-CA)

Case Summary: On Mar. 5, 2021, Representative Eric Swalwell sued Donald Trump and several associates in DC federal court over the Jan. 6 riots. Much like Representative Bennie Thompson’s related suit, Swalwell alleges that Trump and his co-defendants–Donald Trump Jr., Representative Mo Brooks (R-AL), and Rudy Giuliani–violated the Ku Klux Klan Act by conspiring to interfere with the Electoral College count on Jan. 6.

Swalwell’s suit also goes one step further: it claims that the defendants should be held civilly liable for negligence because they committed criminal incitement under DC’s local code, which establishes the standard of care. Notably, Swalwell says that Trump violated the same DC code–§22-1321(a)(2)–that DC AG Karl Racine is apparently focusing on in his own criminal investigation into Trump’s conduct.

Beyond the civil rights and incitement counts, Swalwell also claims that the defendants are liable for encouraging (aiding and abetting) the rioters’ violent conduct and for intentionally inflicting emotional distress on members of Congress in connection with the attack on the Capitol.

Case Status: Swalwell filed his complaint on Mar. 5, 2021. Trump’s answer is due by May 23, 2021.

Update: On May 17, 2021, Giuliani filed a motion to dismiss the claims against him. He argued that his speech did not qualify as incitement, that he never formed a conspiracy with the other defendants or the rioters, and that his speech was ultimately protected by the First Amendment.

Update: On May 24, 2021, Donald Trump and his son Donald Jr. filed their own motion to dismiss. Most notably, former President Trump argued that he had absolute immunity against Swalwell’s claims because Trump’s alleged misconduct was within the scope of his official duties as president. Both Trump and Trump Jr. also contended that their speech was protected under the First Amendment and the canonical Brandenburg test. The Trumps also advanced various other arguments ranging from standing to the political question doctrine to even a claim that Swalwell was barred from suing Trump over the same conduct for which Trump was acquitted at his impeachment trial.

Update: On July 27, 2021: The Justice Department submitted a brief stating that Brooks was not acting within the scope of his employment and thus not shielded by the Westfall Act. The House of Representatives filed a response taking a “non-participation approach” (silence) on the question whether Brooks acted within his scope of employment. The Chairwoman of the Committee on House Administration submitted a brief stating that Rep. Brooks was not acting within his scope of employment.

Update: Judge Mehta–who is also presiding over the Bass, Swalwell and Blassingame 1/6 suits–scheduled a combined oral argument for Jan. 10, 2022, for all three cases.

Update: On Feb. 18, 2022, the district court denied Trump’s motion to dismiss the § 1985 claim against him.

3. Capitol Police Suit for Jan. 6 Riots

Blassingame v. Trump, No. 21-cv-00858 (D.D.C. filed Mar 30, 2021)

Plaintiff: James Blassingame and Sidney Hemby, two Capitol police officers

Case Summary: On Mar. 30, 2021, two Capitol Police Officers sued Donald Trump for injuries they sustained during the Jan. 6 riots in DC. The officers–James Blassingame and Sidney Hemby–say they were maced with bear spray, attacked with fists and flagpoles, and even crushed against a door as they tried to protect the Capitol from pro-Trump intruders.

Much like the other Jan. 6 suits against Trump, the officers pin their injuries on Trump’s incendiary rhetoric before and during violence. Both allege that Trump directed the rioters to assault them, aided the rioters in committing those assaults, and negligently incited the riot in violation of DC’s public safety codes. Blassingame also accuses Trump of directing intentional infliction of emotional distress, pointing to the racial slurs and taunts that the intruders allegedly hurled at him during the violence.

Case Status: The officers filed their suit in DC federal court on Mar. 30, 2021.

Update: On Apr. 28, 2021, the plaintiffs added two new conspiracy claims against Trump, one based on the KKK Act and the other on common law conspiracy. They allege that Trump illegally conspired with the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers to storm the Capitol, which in turn caused the plaintiffs’ injuries.

Update: Judge Mehta–who is also presiding over the Bass, Swalwell and Blassingame 1/6 suits–scheduled a combined oral argument for Jan. 10, 2022, for all three cases.

Update: On Feb. 18, 2022, the district court denied Trump’s motion to dismiss the § 1985 claim against him.

4. Second Capitol Police Suit over the Jan. 6 Riots

Smith v. Trump, No. 21-cv-02265 (D.D.C. filed Aug. 26, 2021)

Plaintiff: Seven Capitol Police officers

Case Summary: On Aug. 26, 2021, a second group of Capitol Police officers filed suit over injuries they suffered while defending the Capitol on Jan. 6. The officers allege that Trump and his co-defendants--including the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers--conspired to incite a riot and attack the Capitol, leaving the officers physically and emotionally injured.

Like the other Jan. 6 lawsuits against Trump, the complaint asserts that Trump violated the KKK Act by conspiring to instigate the riots. The complaint also alleges that unnamed defendants--listed as “John Does” who carried out the attack--physically assaulted the officers at Trump’s provocation, which could make Trump liable for the officers’ injuries.

The plaintiffs also add in a unique claim not found in other Jan. 6 lawsuits against Trump: that the defendants violated the DC Bias-Related Crimes Act, a local hate crime statute. According to the complaint, the defendants were motivated by political bias against the Democratic Party when they instigated and executed the Capitol attack.

Case Status: The officers filed their suit in DC federal court on Aug 26, 2021.

Update: Donald Trump filed a motion to dismiss on Nov. 12, 2021. Much like in the other Jan. 6 suits, Trump argued that his speech was constitutionally protected by presidential immunity, the First Amendment, and preclusion as a result of the impeachment acquittal.

Update: On Dec. 5, 2021, the plaintiffs amended their complaint to add an eighth officer as a plaintiff and to add a pro-Trump PAC as an additional defendant. The court ruled that the defendants could file new motions to dismiss against this amended complaint, due by Dec. 23, 2021.

5. Third Capitol Police Suit over the Jan. 6 Riots

Moore v. Trump, No. 22-cv-00010 (D.D.C. filed Jan. 4, 2022)

Plaintiff: Marcus J. Moore, US Capitol Police Officer

Case Summary: On Jan. 4, 2022, a third suit was filed by a Capitol Police officer alleging that physical and emotional injuries he suffered were caused by Trump’s inciting the Jan. 6 riot. The complaint alleges that Trump directed, aided and abetted, and conspired to incite the riot. The officer seeks compensatory and punitive damages.

The officer claims that the actions, tweets, and comments made by Trump prior, during, and after the insurrection resulted in actual physical injuries as rioters struck him and attacked him with physical objects and chemical agents. Like other Jan. 6 lawsuits, the officer claims Trump violated the KKK Act as Trump conspired to attack the Capitol with his followers. The officer, like earlier lawsuits, further cited violations of the D.C. Code for inciting a riot and disorderly conduct.

Case Status: The officer filed his suit in DC District Court on January 4, 2022.

6. Metropolitan Police Suits over the Jan. 6. Riots

Tabron v. Trump, No. 22-cv-00011 (D.D.C. filed Jan. 4, 2022)

Plaintiff: Bobby Tabron and DeDivine K. Carter, Metropolitan Police Officers

Case Summary: On Jan. 4, 2022, two Metropolitan Police Officers filed suit alleging that physical and emotional injuries they suffered were caused by Trump’s inciting the Jan. 6 riot. The complaint alleges that Trump directed, aided and abetted, and conspired to incite the riot. The officers seek compensatory and punitive damages.

The officers claim that the actions, tweets, and comments made by Trump prior, during, and after the insurrection resulted in actual physical injuries as rioters struck them and attacked them with physical objects and chemical agents. Like other Ja. 6 lawsuits, the officers claim Trump violated the KKK Act as Trump conspired to attack the Capitol with his followers. The officers, like earlier lawsuits, further cited violations of the D.C. Code for inciting a riot and disorderly conduct.

Case Status: The officers filed their suit on January 4, 2022.

7. Former President Trump suit to block release of White House documents to Select Committee

Federal District Court

Briefs:

Donald J. Trump, Complaint (Oct. 18, 2021)
House Select Committee, Response (Oct. 29, 2021)
Former members of Congress, Amicus Brief (Oct. 29, 2021)
National Archives, Response-Memorandum (Oct. 30, 2021) (including Declaration by B. John Laster)
Non-profit gov't transparency and accountability organizations and scholars, Amicus Brief (Oct 30, 2021)
Donald J. Trump, Reply brief (Nov. 2, 2021)

District court hearing: Transcript (Nov. 4, 2021)
District court judgment: Opinion rejecting President Trump’s motion (Nov. 9, 2021)

Court of Appeals

Briefs:

Donald J. Trump, Brief (Nov. 16, 2021)
Executive Branch Defendants, Brief (Nov. 22, 2021)
House Select Committee, Brief (Nov. 22, 2021)
CREW and Former White House Attorneys, Amicus Brief (Nov. 22, 2021)
Former Members of Congress, Amicus Brief (Nov. 22, 2021)
Government Accountability Project, Government Information Watch, National Security Counselors, Amicus Brief (Nov. 24, 2021)
Donald J. Trump, Reply Brief (Nov. 24, 2021)

Court of Appeals hearing: Oral argument (Nov. 30, 2021)
Court of Appeals Order and Opinion (Dec. 9, 2021)

U.S. Supreme Court

Donald Trump, Petition for certiorari (Dec. 23, 2021)

Supreme Court opinion rejecting President Trump’s appeal (Jan. 19, 2022)

8. Witnesses lawsuits to block Select Committee subpoenas against selves and/or Verizon/carries

Mark Meadows v. Pelosi, Select Committee, Complaint, Case 1:21-cv-03217 (filed Dec. 8, 2021) (subpoena and letter from Verizon to Meadows)
Justin Caporale, Tim Unes, Maggie Mulvaney, and Megan Powers v. Verizon, Complaint, Case 3:21-cv-20484 (filed Dec. 13, 2021)
John Eastman v. Select Committee, Verizon, Complaint, Case 1:21-cv-03273 (filed Dec. 14, 2021)
- House Select Committee motion for summary judgment (April 22, 2022) (with excerpted interviews)
- Brief in Opposition to Plaintiff’s Privilege Assertions (regarding Eastman's attempt to enjoin Chapman University) (Mar. 2, 2022)
  - Related reporting: Kyle Cheney and Nicholas Wu, Jan. 6 Committee Says Trump Violated Multiple Laws in Effort to Overturn Election, Politico (Mar. 2, 2022)
- Order (regarding privilege of Eastman documents dated Jan. 4-7, 2021 produced by Chapman University) (Mar. 28, 2022)
- Order (release of additional documents including alternate slate of electors) (June 7, 2022)
Amy Harris v. Select Committee, Complaint, Case 1:21-cv-03290 (filed Dec. 15, 2021)
Ali Alexander v. Pelosi, Select Committee, Verizon, Complaint, Case 1:21-cv-03308 (filed Dec. 17, 2021)
Alex Jones v. Select Committee, Complaint, Case 1:21-cv-03316 (filed Dec. 20, 2021)
Michael Flynn v. Pelosi, Select Committee, Case 8:21-cv-02956-kkm-spf

Complaint (filed Dec. 21, 2021)
Court Order (rejecting complaint) (Dec. 22, 2021)

Taylor Budowich v. Pelosi, Select Committee, JP Morgan Chase, Complaint, Case 1:21-cv-03366 (filed Dec. 24, 2021)
Kelly and Connie Meggs v. Pelosi, Select Committee, Verizon, Complaint, Case 1:22-cv-00005 Verizon (filed Jan. 3, 2022)
Sebastian Gorka v. Select Committee, Verizon, Complaint, Case 1:22-cv-00017 (filed Jan. 04, 2022)
Mike Lindell v. Select Committee, Verizon, Complaint, Case 0:22-cv-00028 (filed Jan. 05, 2022)
Anonymous Plaintiff v. Select Committee, Verizon, Complaint, Case 1:22-cv-00018 (filed Jan. 05, 2022)

9. District of Columbia v. Militia Groups

District of Columbia v. Proud Boys, ,Oath Keepers et al, Case 1:21-cv-03267 (D.D.C. filed Dec. 14, 2021)

Complaint
District Court Opinion (March 31 2023)

Government Documents

White House and National Archives

1. John Eastman memos:

7-page memo (entitled “The Constitutional Authority of State Legislatures to Choose Electors”) emailed to White House on Nov. 28, 2020)

2-page memo (written soon after Dec. 25)

6-page memo (Jan. 3, 2021)

Related reporting: Jamie Gangel and Jeremy Herb, Memo shows Trump lawyer's six-step plan for Pence to overturn the election, CNN (Sept. 21, 2021)

2. John Eastman’s email correspondence (documents via Colorado Ethics Institute via public information request)

Related reporting: Denver Post and Politico reporting

3. Gregory Jacob, Vice President Pence’s Counsel Memo to Vice President Pence, January 6 Process for Electoral Vote Count (Dec. 8, 2020)

4. Ken Blackwell email (Dec. 28, 2020) (Blackwell recommends briefing for Vice President Mike Pence from John Eastman and Kenneth Klukowski) (exhibit of House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol)

5. Office of the Vice President, Legal, “Unlawful Election Conduct in Six States,” (Jan. 1, 2021)

6. Call Between President Donald Trump and Georgia State Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (Jan. 2, 2021) (audio and transcript released on Jan. 3, 2021)

Related reporting: Betsy Woodruff Swan, Pence team couldn't verify Trump campaign's election fraud claims, new memo shows, Politico (Jun. 10, 2002)

7. Greg Jacob, Vice President Pence’s Chief Counsel Memo to Vice President Pence, Memorandum: Analysis of Professor Eastman’s Proposals (Jan. 5, 2021)

Related reporting: Betsy Woodruff Swan and Kyle Cheney, Pence-world’s final takedown of Trump’s Jan. 6 bid to remain in power revealed in his lawyer's memo, Politico (Jun. 11, 2002)

8. President Trump, Memorandum on Inadmissibility of Persons Affiliated with Antifa Based on Organized Criminal Activity (Jan. 5, 2021)

9. Trump interview with journalist Jonathan Karl (November 12, 2021) (defending January 6 chants to “hang Mike Pence”)

10. Cassidy Hutchinson, transcribed interview with House Select Committee (March 7, 2022)

11. Mark Meadows text messages (CNN's obtained samples: here and here; and January 5-6 texts here)

12. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Subpoena to the United States Secret Service (press release) (Jul 15, 2022)

Subpoena letter
James M. Murray, Director of the United States Secret Service

Department of Homeland Security

1. Background: DHS Whistleblower Brian Murphy Complaint (Sept. 8, 2020) (alleging suppression of intelligence threat assessments of white supremacist violence)

2. DHS Homeland Threat Assessment identifying US-based violent extremists as primary terrorist threat inside US (Oct. 2020)

3. DHS, Temporary Procedures for Review of Civil Unrest and Certain Election-Related Raw Intelligence (Oct. 30, 2020)

4. Department of Homeland Security, Federal Protective Service, Information Bulletin: First Amendment Protected Activities Within the National Capital Region (Jan. 5, 2021)

5. Department of Homeland Security, Federal Protective Service, Investigations Branch, Demonstration Report (Jan. 6 2021)

6. Department of Homeland Security, Federal Protective Service, Emails between Regional Director and Physical Security Officer, “Re: Question” (on crowd size) (Jan. 6, 2021)

7. Department of Homeland Security, Federal Protective Service, Full FOIA Release of Emails, Photographs, and Intelligence Bulletins

Related news reports: Washington Post, Buzzfeed, and CREW

8. Department of Homeland Security, National Terrorism Advisory System Bulletin: NTAS Bulletin due to a heightened threat environment across the United States (Jan. 27, 2021)

9. DHS, Office of Intelligence and Analysis, Tactics and Coordination Observed During Civil Unrest on 6 Jan 2021 (April 8, 2021)

Associated reading: Kelly Weill, DHS Memo: Capitol Attackers Plotted in Advance, Daily Beast (Aug. 20, 2021)

10. Department of Homeland Security, National Terrorism Advisory System Bulletin: NTAS Bulletin regarding the current heightened threat environment across the United States (May 14, 2021)

11. Relevant document: GAO, Capitol Attack: Special Event Designations Could Have Been Requested for January 6, 2021, But Not All DHS Guidance Is Clear (Aug. 9, 2021)

12. DHS, Office of Intelligence & Analysis - intelligence reports distribution (FOIA release on Aug. 31, 2021)

13. DHS, Office of Intelligence and Analysis, Some Domestic Violent Extremists and Foreign Terrorist Organizations Exploiting TikTok (Apr. 19, 2021)

Related news report: Betsy Woodruff Swan and Mark Scott, DHS: Extremists Used TikTok to Promote Jan. 6 Violence, Politico (Sept. 16, 2021)

14. DHS National Operations Center to Department of Defense on Jan. 6 (FOIA release on Sept. 20, 2021)

Related news report: Betsy Woodruff Swan and Lara Seligman, “No major incidents of illegal activity”: DHS told Pentagon as pro-Trump mob breached Capitol, Politico (Sept. 28, 2021)

15. DHS Office of Inspector General Report, I&A Identified Threats prior to January 6, 2021, but Did Not Issue Any Intelligence Products before the U.S. Capitol Breach (REDACTED) (Mar. 4, 2022)

Related news report: Geneva Sands, Watchdog finds DHS identified threats prior to January 6 but did not widely share intelligence until after attack, CNN (Mar. 8, 2022)

16. Letter from Carolyn B. Maloney and Bennie G. Thompson to Inspector General Cuffari, Request for documents regarding domestic abuse and sexual harrassment by DHS employees, missing January 6, 2021 insurrections records, and failure to work with objectivity (Aug. 16, 2022)

U.S. Secret Service

1. Secret Service FOIA Documents Release Before and On Jan. 6

Related reading: Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), Secret Service dismissed warning signs of violence at Capitol before January 6th (Jul. 15, 2021)

2. Secret Service Warnings of Violence to Capitol Police and Parler posts (FOIA)

Related reading: Betsy Woodruff Swan and Nicholas Wu, Secret Service warned Capitol Police about violent threats 1 day before Jan. 6, Politico (Aug. 25, 2021)

3. Secret Service Statement: “Then-White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations Anthony Ornato had absolutely no involvement in Vice Presidential movements or operations on January 6, 2021” (Apr. 26, 2022)

Related reporting: Aaron Blake, A top Democrat ties Pence’s ‘I’m not getting in the car’ to Jan. 6 ‘coup’, Washington Post (Apr. 26, 2022)

4. Jordan Libowitz and Lauren White, Secret Service held onto Pelosi threat until after insurrection, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (Aug. 17, 2022)

Department of Justice (DOJ)/Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

Editors’ note from Goodman and Hendrix:

“Neither the FBI nor DHS issued a threat assessment or intelligence bulletin warning law enforcement entities in the National Capital Region of the potential for violence,” the bipartisan Senate Report of June 2021 explained.

Members of Congress asked FBI Director Christopher Wray about the absence of an Intelligence Bulletin warning of threats to the Capitol. In response, he pointed to other intelligence reports the department issued before Jan. 6, 2021. In his prepared remarks, Wray referred to “approximately 12 intelligence products” throughout 2020, including two joint intelligence bulletins with DHS in June 2020, an analytical report in late August 2020, and a DHS Intelligence In-Depth product that the FBI contributed to in December 2020.

NBC News, however, subsequently reported:

“The FBI reports Wray mentioned were sent to state and local law enforcement agencies but have not been made public, and the FBI declined an NBC News request for them. But officials who have seen them say they were broad and generic and did not lead anyone to believe the Capitol could be a target Jan. 6.”

1. Background: The Attorney General's Guidelines for Domestic FBI Operations

2. Background: FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (DIOG)

3. Background: FBI Intelligence Assessment, White Supremacist Infiltration of Law Enforcement (Oct. 17 2006) (UNREDACTED version) (FBI REDACTED version)

4. Background: FBI Intelligence Bulletin, Conspiracy Theories and Domestic Violent Extremism (May 30, 2019) (background reading – here and here)

5. Background: Deputy AG Jeffrey Rosen “Seditious Conspiracy” Memo (Sept. 17, 2020)

6. Background: FBI External Intelligence Note, Boogaloo Adherents Likely Increasing Anti-Government Violent Rhetoric and Activities, Increasing Domestic Violent Extremist Threat in the FBI Dallas Area of Responsibility (Sept. 29. 2020)

Related reporting: Ken Klippenstein, As Trump Equivocates on White Supremacy, the FBI Warns of Right-Wing Terror, The Nation (Sept. 30, 2020)

7. Attorney General William Barr, Memorandum: Post-Voting Election Irregularity Inquiries (Nov. 9, 2020)

8. Richard Pilger, Director, Election Crimes Branch, Public Integrity Section, DOJ, Email to colleagues on stepping down in protest (Nov. 9, 2020)

9. FBI Email, “Far-Right Chatter re Election Results” (Nov. 9, 2020)

10. Letter from DEO Election Prosecutors to Attorney General Barr (Nov. 13, 2020) (objecting and requesting rescission of Nov. 9 Memorandum)

11. DOJ-FBI Email Correspondence on opening election fraud investigations (Dec. 7, 2020)

Associated reading: Emails: Senior DOJ officials wrangled over baseless Trump voter fraud allegations, Politico

12. White House/DOJ Emails involving Trump-Meadows’ communications with Department of Justice on election fraud claims

Background: House Committee on Oversight and Reform Press Release on Jun. 15, 2021 (see also Committee’s initial letter of request to DOJ on May 21, 2021)

13. DOJ communications and directives about events at Capitol during Congressional certification of 2020 election results (Dec. 21, 2020 - Jan. 7 2021) (via American Oversight FOIA request)

14. DOJ and FBI internal email correspondence planning and response to January 6th events (via Buzzfeed FOIA Request)

Related reporting: Zoe Tillman and Jason Leopold, Top Justice Department Officials Were Told There Were ‘No Credible Threats” Hours Before the Capitol Riot, BuzzFeed News (Nov. 19, 2021).

15. Ken Blackwell email (Dec. 28, 2020) (Blackwell recommends briefing for Vice President Mike Pence from John Eastman and Kenneth Klukowski) (exhibit of House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol)

16. FBI Minneapolis Field Office, Situational Information Report, (Dec. 29, 2020) (warning of militant anti-government threat at Jan. 17 events at state capitols)

Related reporting: Caitlin Dickson, Exclusive: FBI Warns of Potential Boogaloo Violence During Jan. 17 Rallies, Yahoo News (Jan. 11, 2021).

17. Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard P. Donoghue, Handwritten notes of phone call with President Trump (Dec. 27, 2020) and phone call with White House (Dec. 29, 2020) (transcription of positions of handwritten notes, by House Committee on Oversight and Reform)

18. Jeffrey Clark, Rejected draft letter to stop Georgia certification and Rosen-Donoghue emails (Dec. 28, 2020) (associated ABC News report)

19. Patrick Hovakimian, Associate Deputy Attorney General, Draft Resignation Email (Jan. 3, 2021) (associated Politico report)

20. FBI Seattle Field Office, Internal Email re Jan. 6 (Jan. 5, 2021)

21. FBI Norfolk Division, Situational Information Report: Potential for Violence in Washington DC Area in Connection with Planned 'StopTheSteal' Protest on 6 January 2021 (Jan. 5, 2021)

22. Department of Justice, Officials’ call logs on January 6 (including Jeffrey Rosen’s handwritten log of calls) (obtained via American Oversight FOIA requests)

Background: CREW, Trump DOJ chose not to brief Congress on “expected” Jan. 6 “unrest”- document obtained by CREW

23. FBI, Infographic - FBI's Ability to Legally Access Secure Messaging App Content and Metadata (Jan. 7, 2021)

Related analysis: Riana Pfefferkorn, We Now Know What Information the FBI Can Obtain from Encrypted Messaging Apps, Just Security (Dec. 14, 2021)

24. FBI Awareness Bulletin re Weapons Stockpile at Capitol Breach Subject's Residence (Jan. 10, 2021)

25. Press Conference: Acting USA Sherwin and FBI Assistant Director in Charge of Washington Field Office Steven D’Antuono, Update on Criminal Charges on Events at Capitol (Jan. 12, 2021)
Transcript CSPAN YouTube

26. Press Call: Acting USA Sherwin, FBI Assistant Director in Charge of Washington Field Office Steven D’Antuono and Special Agent in Charge of ATF Office in Washington Ashan Benedict (Jan. 15, 2021)
Transcript

27. Department of Justice, Capitol Breach Criminal Cases

28. Department of Justice, letters to former U.S. officials authorizing testimony to Congress without executive privilege (July 26, 2021)

29. Department of Justice, Brief in Swalwell v. Mo Brooks No 21-cv-00586 (July 27, 2021) (Note: See also section on “Civil Cases”)

30. Department of Justice, Criminal Indictment of Stephen Bannon for Contempt of Congress (Nov. 12, 2021)

31. Department of Justice, Memorandum in Support of Motion for Detention of Enrique Tarrio (Mar. 14, 2022)

32. District of Columbia Court of Appeals, Board on Professional Responsibility, Specification of Charges Against Jeffrey B. Clark (July 19, 2022) (specification of ethics charges for attempting to engage in conduct that would seriously interfere with the administration of justice)

Intelligence Community/Joint Agencies

1. Joint Statement from Elections Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council & The Election Infrastructure Sector Coordinating Executive Committees (Nov. 12, 2020)

2. Joint Intelligence Bulletin, Domestic Violent Extremists Emboldened in Aftermath of Capitol Breach, Elevated Domestic Terrorism Threat of Violence Likely Amid Political Transitions and Beyond (Jan. 13 2021)

3. Joint Intelligence Bulletin, National Capital Region Remains Attractive Target for Domestic Violent Extremists (reported by NBC News) (Mar. 2, 2021)

Department of Defense

1. DC National Guard communications and directives for January 6 (Dec. 31, 2020) (via American Oversight FOIA request)

2. Department of Defense internal communications related to January 6 (Jan. 1-7, 2021 via American Oversight FOIA request)

3. Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller, Memorandum for the Secretary of the Army: Employment Guidance for the DC National Guard (Jan. 4, 2021)

Trump’s Reinstatement on Social Media Platforms and Coded Forms of Incitement

Anika Collier Navaroli — Tue, 11 Apr 2023 12:59:25 +0000

Co-published with Tech Policy Press

Over the past few weeks, major social media companies including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube reinstated former President Donald Trump’s social media accounts and privileges. Now, in the aftermath of his indictment in Manhattan’s Criminal Court and likely future indictment elsewhere, their decisions will be put to the test.

After his day in court, Trump was back at Mar-a-Lago, where he addressed the media and streamed his remarks on Facebook Live. He used his platform to lay out a list of grievances against his perceived political opponents, including doubling down on unfounded conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and framing his legal troubles as “political persecution” designed to “interfere with the upcoming 2024 election.”

As a whistleblower from inside one of those major social media companies, I can say with conviction that the path we are on is dangerous. I know first hand. As I testified to Congress, while an employee at Twitter I spent months warning the company’s leadership that the coded language Trump and his followers were using was going to lead to violence on Jan. 6, 2021. I am also the person who argued to Twitter executives that they would have more blood on their hands if they did not follow my team’s recommendation to permanently suspend Trump’s account on Jan. 8, 2021.

Just weeks after that, former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey told Congress that Twitter played a role in the violence of Jan. 6. However, the exact role that social media played in the violent attack on the Capitol has never been fully disclosed, though it was investigated by the House Select Committee.

The committee heard days of detailed accounts from myself, another brave former Twitter employee, and employees from other social media companies about the failings we saw with our own eyes. But, the committee’s almost 900 page final report, released in early January 2023, did not present the findings from the team tasked with looking into social media.

An unpublished draft of this team’s findings was leaked in late January. It painted a damning picture of the culpability of social media companies in the Capitol attack. Chief among its key findings was that “social media platforms delayed response to the rise of far-right extremism—and President Trump’s incitement of his supporters—helped to facilitate the attack on January 6th.”

But the report didn’t stop there. It went on to detail critical failings within specific social media companies. It said, “key decisions at Twitter were bungled by incompetence and poor judgement,” and “Twitter failed to take actions that could have prevented the spread of incitement to violence after the election.” By the time these findings were shared, however, the former president’s account had been reinstated at Twitter by its new owner, Elon Musk, following a Twitter poll.

According to the committee’s social media team’s findings, Twitter was not alone in sharing responsibility for allowing violence to be inspired on its platform in the runup to Jan. 6. Rather, the committee’s investigators found: “Facebook did not fail to grapple with election delegitimization after the election so much as it did not even try.” The investigators also noted that Facebook was due to review the former President’s suspension. The draft report clearly states, “President Trump could soon return to social media—but the risk of violence has not abated.”

Yet, within days of the committee’s draft social media report publicly leaking, Meta announced that it would reinstate the former President’s accounts. Nick Clegg, the company’s President of Global Affairs, boldly proclaimed that after assessing the serious risk to public safety and the current security environment, “our determination is that the risk has sufficiently receded.” He then hedged, “Mr. Trump is subject to our Community Standards.”

The January 6th committee’s draft social media report also singled out YouTube in its key findings. It detailed the company’s “failure to take significant proactive steps against content related to election disinformation or Stop the Steal.” It also concluded that “YouTube’s policies relevant to election integrity were inadequate to the moment.”

Last month YouTube also decided to reinstate Donald Trump’s posting privileges. YouTube’s vice president of public policy, Leslie Miller, said the platform’s determination was made after it “carefully evaluated the continued risk of real-world violence” and “the importance of preserving the opportunity for voters to hear equally from major national candidates in the run up to an election.” Like Meta, YouTube also promised that the former president’s account would still be subject to company content moderation policies.

How does this happen? How do social media companies come to the exact opposite conclusion of a year’s long congressional investigation?

It’s like January 6th never happened. It’s like we haven’t learned our lessons. Or maybe we just want to forget.

But I haven’t forgotten. In February, I was a witness at a congressional hearing that highlighted the extreme political polarization that our country is currently undergoing.

During the hearing, I was called by representatives an “American hero” and a “sinister overlord.” I was told by members of the United States Congress that I should be celebrated for speaking the truth, and that my arrest for unspecified crimes was imminent. Throughout the hearing, people on the internet posted images of nooses directed toward me.

Since then, members of Congress who swore oaths to uphold the Constitution have continued their veiled calls for an American civil war on Twitter. As Donald Trump faced his indictment in New York City, he posted on Truth Social with language that directly mirrored the dog whistles he used in the days leading up to January 6th, 2021, and he gathered his followers in Waco, where he glamorized the Capitol attack.

These repetitions of history did not go unnoticed. During Trump’s court appearance this week, the prosecutor raised concerns over the former President’s threatening statements and social media posts, such as Trump’s warning of “potential death and destruction” that he said would follow his indictment. While the judge did not impose a gag order, he noted his serious concerns about this activity, requesting the defense counsel to tell their client to “please refrain from making comments or engaging in conduct that has the potential to incite violence, create civil unrest, or jeopardize the safety or well-being of any individuals.”

While there thankfully was no immediate political violence in the aftermath of Trump’s arraignment, the threat of violence is nowhere near over.

Trump’s New York indictment, ongoing criminal investigations at both the state and federal level, and his political campaign will be a pressure test of companies’ decisions to reinstate the former president. While these companies have promised that the former president will now be subject to their rules, the truth is, we’ve heard this promise before. As I testified, companies previously bent and broke their own rules behind closed doors in order to protect Trump’s dangerous speech. After Trump’s remarks on social media this week which led to the judge and prosecutor having reportedly been subject to an increase in death threats,what indication do we have that this time will be different?

Even if platforms do decide to enforce their rules, the reality remains that these baseline policies are insufficient. As I testified to Congress, in 2020 my team at Twitter advocated for the creation of a new nuanced policy that would prohibit coded language like dog whistles that would lead to the incitement of violence. Despite seeing the interpretation of Trump’s statements by his base, it was not until the Capitol had been attacked on Jan. 6, 2021 that we were allowed to implement the policy.

Both the other Twitter whistleblower and I testified that we left the company in part after this policy was eliminated and we realized that the rolled back enforcement would inevitably lead to more political violence. The riots on Jan. 8, 2023 in Brazil’s capital showed us that companies have still not created policies that address nuanced or coded language, and that world leaders and their followers can still employ anti-democratic campaigns that incite violence. It has become an off-the-shelf playbook.

The normalization of hate, dehumanization and harmful misinformation within political discourse on social media has put us on a cataclysmic course. Politicians skirting the lines of content moderation policies under the guise of open communication with constituents has fueled lawless actions. And companies have not only failed to update their policies to address these gaps, many have scaled back or wholly removed the teams who were responsible for moderation.

As social media companies now reevaluate whether to stay the course, I encourage company leaders to learn from our not too distant history. Allowing former President Donald Trump to retake his algorithmically amplified megaphone on the largest social media platforms poses a threat to our democracy. Not only does it lead us down the exact path to violence we have already walked, it signals to would-be authoritarians all over the world that there is safe harbor for dangerous speech at American technology companies.

I challenge my former colleagues and peers at other platforms to ask themselves: Do you really want to bear responsibility when violence happens again?

IMAGE: Supporters hold “Witch Hunt” signs as former US President Donald Trump speaks during a 2024 election campaign rally in Waco, Texas, March 25, 2023. (Photo by Suzanne Cordeiro/AFP via Getty Images)

The post Trump’s Reinstatement on Social Media Platforms and Coded Forms of Incitement appeared first on Just Security.

Profiles of the January 6th Inmates in the D.C. Jail

Tom Joscelyn — Mon, 20 Mar 2023 14:00:42 +0000

Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and James Comer (R-Ky.), Chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, recently announced their intent to arrange for a congressional delegation to visit January 6th inmates held in the Washington, D.C. jail. Both Greene and former President Donald Trump have portrayed these individuals as “political prisoners.” However, not one of the inmates is being held for political reasons.

Twenty (20) January 6th inmates were held in D.C. as of Mar. 13, 2023, according to the Washington, D.C. Department of Corrections’ official list, which Just Security has obtained. Below, we present an analysis showing that all of them have been charged with committing serious criminal offenses on Jan. 6, 2021. Seventeen (17) of the twenty inmates are accused of assaulting law enforcement officers during the attack on the U.S. Capitol. The remaining three inmates, which include a Proud Boys member and an Oath Keepers member, have all been charged with committing other serious crimes on Jan. 6, 2021, and one of them has already been convicted.

On Mar. 9, 2023, Representatives Greene, Comer, and Clay Higgins (R-La.) sent a letter to Washington, D.C.’s mayor, Muriel Bowser, requesting that arrangements be made for a “congressional delegation to visit” the detention facilities where January 6th defendants are held. The representatives stated that they are also seeking “certain documents and information” regarding the D.C. jail facilities, as well as access to “detainees” and “employees” for the purpose of conducting interviews.

Congresswoman Greene has long sought to portray the January 6th defendants as victims of the D.C. government and U.S. Department of Justice. She has, for example, repeatedly described defendants held in pre-trial custody as “political prisoners of war.” As outlined in the letter he co-signed, Congressman Comer has apparently greenlit an investigation along the lines Greene sought. The representatives write that they are “concerned by reports that January 6 detainees are facing a unique form of mistreatment due to their politics and beliefs,” adding this may amount to “potential … human rights abuses.” They also claim that the January 6th inmates may be subjected to “disparate treatment.”

Earlier this month, a federal judge, appointed by President Donald Trump, reportedly rejected a similar line of argument when Christopher Quaglin, an alleged member of the Proud Boys who is accused of assaulting law enforcement officers on Jan. 6, sought pretrial release.

Throughout their letter, the three representatives refer to the January 6th inmates as “detainees,” even though they are in the custody of the criminal justice system and many of them have pleaded guilty or otherwise been convicted. Curiously, the congressional representatives do not identify any of the inmates.

Just Security is able to do so based upon the D.C. Department of Corrections’ official list of the twenty January 6th inmates held as of Mar. 13, 2023. Short descriptions of the charges and evidence levied against all twenty defendants are provided below. The allegations are drawn principally from court filings and online summaries provided by the Department of Justice. In some instances, press reporting is also cited to provide additional context.

Some highlights:

Nine (9) of the twenty (20) January 6th inmates have already been either convicted or pleaded guilty to at least some of the charges against them. For the eleven (11) defendants who have not yet been tried or accepted a plea deal, it is important to remember that they are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. And all inmates deserve humane treatment under human rights law and the U.S. Constitution.

As mentioned above, seventeen (17) of the twenty (20) January 6th inmates are accused of assaulting law enforcement officers during the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Of these 17 defendants, six (6) have already pleaded guilty to charges, including assaulting police officers. Another two (2) of the 17 have been convicted at trial for assaulting law enforcement officers, as well as other crimes.

The remaining three (3) January 6th defendants who have not been accused of physically assaulting law enforcement officers include: William Chrestman, an alleged member of the Proud Boys who is charged with conspiring to obstruct or impede an official proceeding, threatening a federal officer, and carrying a deadly or dangerous weapon onto the Capitol grounds, among other charges; Jessica Watkins, a member of the Oath Keepers who has been convicted of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and interfering with law enforcement officers during a civil disorder, as well as other charges; and Eric Christie, who has been charged with multiple crimes, including entering and remaining in a restricted building with a deadly weapon and disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building with a deadly weapon.

As detailed in the short descriptions below, the January 6th inmates held by the D.C. Department of Corrections include individuals who are alleged to hold extremist or white supremacist and/or conspiratorial beliefs. Some are members of, or affiliated with, known violent extremist organizations such as the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and the Three Percenters. These organizations are discussed in Chapter 6 of the January 6th Select Committee’s final report. Others have allegedly endorsed white nationalist or anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. At least one of them reportedly wore an InfoWars hat and backpack during the attack.

It is likely that the January 6th defendants held in Washington, D.C. and elsewhere will continue to be the subject of interest. In addition to the investigation announced by the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, former President Donald Trump was recently featured in a recording alongside the “J6 Prison Choir.” Members of this “choir” reportedly performed “The Star-Spangled Banner” from a jail in Washington. Their recording was mixed with audio of Trump reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. The choir’s members were not identified but may include some of the defendants currently held in Washington. Echoing the words of Tucker Carlson, Trump has called January 6th inmates “political prisoners” who are being subject to “persecution,” and said he would issue “full pardons with an apology to many.”

All 20 of the current inmates in the D.C. facility are listed below.

We have added emphasis in bold text throughout the profiles. The emphasis is not from the original source documents. All photographs are from the Justice Department’s court filings.

1. Thomas Ballard

Status: Charged with assaulting law enforcement officers, among other crimes

IMAGES (L to R): Ballard in an “Infowars” baseball hat; Ballard throwing a tabletop at the police officers defending the Lower West Terrace archway, with the desktop circled in red; Ballard using a baton to assault the police officers defending the Lower West Terrace archway, with Ballard circled in red and an arrow pointing at the baton. (via Statement of Facts)

Ballard, of Fort Worth, Texas, has been charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding officers using a dangerous weapon, among other crimes. Citing video from the attack, the Department of Justice alleges that Ballard positioned himself “at the front of the rioters confronting U.S. Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police Department officers who were defending the lower west terrace archway.” In a Statement of Facts prepared for Ballard’s case, an FBI agent cites screenshots from videos recorded outside of the archway, in addition to other evidence. One screenshot allegedly shows Ballard throwing a tabletop at police officers. Other screenshots show Ballard assaulting officers with a baton. The FBI agent also noted that Ballard is wearing an “InfoWars” hat and “tan backpack” during the riot.

2. William Chrestman

Status: Charged with conspiring to obstruct or impede an official proceeding, threatening a federal officer, and carrying a deadly or dangerous weapon onto the Capitol grounds and into the building, among other charges

IMAGES (L to R): Chrestman in a green tactical vest; Chrestman advancing toward the metal gate, with his black helmet circled in yellow; Chrestman attempting to stop metal barriers from closing with a wooden club or axe handle. (via Affidavit)

The Department of Justice alleges that Chrestman, of Olathe, Kansas, and three others in his group were members of the Proud Boys’ Kansas City Chapter. They allegedly “planned with each other, and with others known and unknown, to enter the Capitol forcibly on January 6, and to stop, delay, and hinder the Congressional proceeding occurring that day.”

An FBI agent filed an affidavit in the case, citing multiple screenshots of Chrestman from video footage recorded during the attack on the Capitol. Chrestman and others allegedly “moved to the front of the crowd during the initial confrontation with law enforcement” just outside of the Capitol. Chrestman and others moved past this first barrier. Chrestman then allegedly stood “directly in front of Capitol Police officers who were attempting to guard the Capitol.” Chrestman yelled at the officers, “You shoot and I’ll take your fucking ass out!” Chrestman also allegedly encouraged others to prevent police officers from arresting a member of the crowd, saying: “Don’t let them take him!”

The affidavit describes another scene in which Chrestman addressed the crowd. “Whose house is this?” Chrestman shouted. Members of the crowd responded, “Our House!” Chrestman asked, “Do you want your house back?” The crowd responded, “Yes!” Chrestman then shouted, “Take it!” After the Capitol was overrun, Chrestman and others in his group allegedly worked to “prevent law enforcement from securing areas of the Capitol against unlawful entrants.” Officers attempted to lower metal barriers to control the building and prevent rioters from advancing. One screenshot in the affidavit shows Chrestman obstructing the “metal barriers with a wooden club or axe handle.” This same blunt object “was initially disguised as a blue flag.”

Note: A fellow member of the Kansas City Proud Boys Chapter, Louis Enrique Colon, has pleaded guilty “to a felony charge for obstructing law enforcement officers during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.” Colon was initially charged alongside Chrestman.

3. Eric Christie

Status: Charged with multiple January 6-related crimes, including entering and remaining in a restricted building with a deadly weapon and disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building with a deadly weapon

IMAGES (L to R): Christie outside of the United States Supreme Court in Washington D.C.; Christie addressing the croud through his bullhorn; Christie standing on a vehicle and yelling into his bullhorn. (via Statement of Facts)

According to a Statement of Facts prepared by an FBI agent, Christie was identified by online sleuths. Publicly available videos on YouTube allegedly show him inciting members of the crowd. Christie was part of “a group of people running towards the front of the crowd as they push through a police line and barriers erected on the East side of the Capitol building.” Christie “can be seen running past people in an effort to make his way to the front of the crowd that is moving towards the East side of the Capitol.”

Video allegedly shows Christie “running up the East side steps as police officers are retreating up the steps and attempting to hold a line.” Christie implored the crowd, yelling through his bullhorn, “this is our Capitol.” Another video shows him saying “it’s a MAGA party, it’s a MAGA party,” “welcome to MAGA country, District of Columbia,” “come on, you can come up…It’s your house,” “You’re invited, it’s your house,” and “Beverly Hills in the house.” In some of the clips, Christie incites the crowd while standing on top of a government vehicle. Images of Christie show what appears to be a hammer tucked into his belt at the time.

In December, Christie was arrested in California after a reportedly hours-long “standoff with law enforcement.”

4. David Dempsey

Status: Charged with assaulting law enforcement officers, among other crimes

IMAGES (L to R): Dempsey standing in front of the gallows, wearing black googles and a flag gaiter; Dempsey attacking law enforcement officers in the tunnel in front of the West Terrace entrance; Officers attempt to blockade Dempsey from entering the tunnel. (via Statement of Facts)

Relying on evidence collected by seditionhunters.org and other sources, the Department of Justice alleges that Dempsey used “various objects, including a crutch and a metal pole, as bludgeoning weapons or projectiles against the line of law enforcement officers protecting the tunnel in front of the west terrace entrance.” Video footage also shows “Dempsey spraying officers with what appears to be a lacrimal agent.”

Online sleuths tagged Dempsey, of Van Nuys, California, as #FlagGaiterCopHater. Though he wore “various outfits” on January 6, Dempsey “predominantly” wore “a black shirt, dark helmet, goggles and an American flag gaiter covering most of his face.” The Statement of Facts authored by an FBI agent for Dempsey’s case cites a video recording of a “monologue” Dempsey gave “in front of a wooden structure representing a gallows fitted with a noose.” Dempsey said:

Them worthless fuckin’ shitholes like Jerry Nadler, fuckin’ Pelosi…They don’t need a jail cell. They need to hang from these motherfuckers [pointing to gallows]. …They need to get the point across that the time for peace is over. …For four, or five years really, they’ve been fuckin’ demonizing us, belittling us, …doing everything they can to stop what this is, and people are sick of that shit. …Hopefully one day soon we really have someone hanging from one of these motherfuckers…

5. Kyle Fitzsimons

Status: Convicted of seven felony charges, including assaulting law enforcement officers, as well as four misdemeanor charges

IMAGES (L to R): Fitzsimons clubbed in the head and bleeding; Fitzsimons charging at a police line and engaging with officers, with his body circled in red. (via Statement of Facts)

Fitzsimons, of Lebanon, Maine, was convicted of 11 charges in September 2022. According to the DOJ, Fitzsimons was among the rioters who confronted “law enforcement officers at the tunnel area of the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol Building.” He “was wearing a white butcher’s jacket and a fur pelt and carrying an unstrung bow” at the time.

Fitzsimons “committed five assaults against law enforcement officers,” including by: hurling an “unstrung bow like a spear” at officers, making “forcible contact” with a Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) detective “immediately before another rioter sprayed him with a chemical agent,” trying “to pull a fallen officer into the mob,” grappling with a “sergeant from the U.S. Capitol Police” who “tried to protect the fallen officer,” and twice charging a “group of officers, wildly swinging his fists.” One of the officers Fitzsimons assaulted required shoulder surgery.

Fitzsimons was interviewed by the The Rochester Voice after he participated in the Capitol riot. He cited the speeches given by President Trump, Mayor Rudy Giuliani and others at the rally held at the White House Ellipse on Jan. 6. “The speeches from the morning were overtly preaching the election was not over, there was a path to victory through decertification, there was a plan to delay the certification by the House and Senate and then state legislatures would convene and (certify) the right result,” Fitzsimons noted.

The Statement of Facts filed by the government in Fitzsimons’ case includes multiple screenshots from video recordings of the January 6, 2021, attack. One of the screenshots shows Fitzsimons charging and swinging at police officers. Another image shows blood running down his face. In addition, a statement posted on Facebook, and attributed to Fitzsimons, shows that he believed the 2020 presidential election “was stolen.”

As reported by CNN, Fitzsimons made various “racist and xenophobic remarks,” while also endorsing the “great replacement theory,” in a speech in front of the Maine legislature in 2017 during a public hearing for a proposed bill that would have expanded funding for teaching immigrants English. The “great replacement theory,” which is often espoused by white nationalists, holds that people of European descent are purposely being replaced by new non-white immigrants as part of a conspiracy against white people.

6. Robert Gieswein

Status: Pleaded guilty to two counts of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers

IMAGES (L to R): Gieswein standing in the crowd and brandishing a baseball bat; Gieswein forcibly entering the Capitol through a broken window; Gieswein storming the halls of the Capitol building; Gieswein helping a crowd of people lift and force a temporary barrier against a crowd of U.S. Capitol Police officers. (via Statement of Offense)

Gieswein, of Woodland Park, Colorado, pleaded guilty to felony charges earlier this month. Relying on court filings, the DOJ has traced Gieswein’s actions on January 6. Gieswein was “dressed in a camouflage paramilitary kit” and carried a baseball bat throughout the day. That morning, he met with a group of Proud Boys who befriended him. He marched with the Proud Boys and others from the Washington Monument to the U.S. Capitol, around the building, and then to the Peace Monument. As documented in Chapter 8 of the House January 6th Select Committee’s final report, the Proud Boys and their associates instigated the initial attack on the Capitol just in front of the Peace Monument. Gieswein “rushed into the restricted area of the Capitol grounds” after the rioters knocked down police officers and removed security barriers at that location.

In the Capitol’s West Plaza, Gieswein joined others in “pushing on a barricade held by police that they were using to set a line between themselves and the rioters.” He also “threw a water bottle at a line of police officers.” Gieswein again joined members of the mob as they pushed up the “stairs under the Inauguration scaffolding that led from the West Plaza to the Upper West Terrace.” He then “sprayed an aerosol irritant at three members of the U.S. Capitol Police, who were attempting to prevent the crowd from further advancing towards the Capitol building.” Gieswein sprayed “his aerosol substance” at other officers, including one who was injured. Gieswein also got into a “scuffle” with officers, and “attempted to punch” one of them, as they tried to arrest him.

Gieswein “was one of the first rioters to enter” the Capitol after it was breached at 2:13 p.m. He climbed through a Senate Wing window that Dominic Pezzola, a Proud Boy, smashed in with a stolen riot shield. Inside the Capitol’s Rotunda, Gieswein “participated with other rioters in pushing against a group of police officers who were trying to prevent the rioters from advancing up a hallway that led to Speaker Pelosi’s office.” The rioters failed, and Gieswein exited the Capitol not long after.

The Statement of Offense filed in Gieswein’s case includes photos and screenshots from videos. Those images show Gieswein pushing on police security barriers, entering through the Senate Wing Window, and standing inside the Capitol next to Pezzola, among other scenes. The Statement of Offense also cites an interview Gieswein gave on Jan. 5, during which he endorsed “anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.”

7. Shane Jenkins

Status: Charged with multiple crimes, including assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon

IMAGES (L to R): Jenkins confronting officers outside the Embassy Suites Hotel; Jenkins, circled in red, throws objects at the USCP and MPD officers; Jenkins throws a desk drawer, circled in red, at the USCP and MPD officers. (via Statement of Facts)

In a Statement of Facts prepared for Jenkins’ case, an FBI Special Agent relied on publicly available videos on Twitter and other evidence. One such video allegedly shows “an individual, resembling” Jenkins, who “removes a metal survival hatchet out of a backpack, puts on black gloves, and uses the hatchet to hit a window to the left of the Lower West Terrace tunnel.” The Statement of Facts also cites “security camera footage and body-worn camera” footage recorded by the U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) and Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), respectively. This footage allegedly shows Jenkins “retrieving objects from the ground and throwing them at USCP and MPD officers stationed in the entranceway” to the tunnel. These items include “a pole, a desk drawer, some type of pipe/metal rod, and a flagpole.” These items allegedly “land on top of the heads of several of the MPD and USCP officers inside the entranceway tunnel.” Separately, Jenkins was recorded on a camera worn by an MPD officer who was enforcing a curfew in Washington, D.C. on the night of Jan. 6. The camera recorded Jenkins confronting officers outside the Embassy Suites Hotel.

8. James McGrew

Status: Pleaded guilty to assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers and has been sentenced to 78 months in prison

IMAGES (L to R): McGrew, circled in red, wearing a white t-shirt and a grey, black, and white jacket; McGrew screaming at law enforcement officers; McGrew, circled in red, atop a crowd of people. (via Statement of Facts)

McGrew, of Biloxi, Mississippi and Carlsbad, California, pleaded guilty in May 2022 to assaulting law enforcement officers on Jan. 6. In January 2023, he was sentenced to 78 months in prison, plus 36 months of supervised release, as well as ordered to pay a $5,000 fine and $2,000 restitution.

According to the Justice Department’s summary of McGrew’s actions, he “engaged in a series of confrontations with law enforcement officers on Jan. 6.” McGrew pushed “one officer and struck another” inside the Capitol’s Rotunda, “struck” another officer and “lunged for the officer’s baton,” and “engaged in an altercation with yet another officer.”

After being forced out of the Capitol, McGrew helped others attack officers “attempting to secure the Lower West Terrace tunnel entrance to the building.” Another rioter “handed McGrew a wooden handrail with metal brackets attached.” McGrew threw the handrail into the tunnel, with the metal brackets in front, “towards law enforcement officers.” The “handrail appeared to hit the shield or visor of an officer.” McGrew then joined in the crowd pushing and gaining access into the tunnel area until being pushed out by officers.

The Statement of Facts prepared for McGrew’s case cites video footage from the attack, including a recording by a Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officer’s body worn camera. The video shows McGrew inside of the U.S. Capitol “aggressively” approaching officers, yelling “we’re coming in here, whether you like it or not” and “fight with us, not against us.” While holding up his phone, McGrew also named the officers standing before him and their badge numbers. Other images cited in the Statement of Facts show McGrew “scream[ing] at law enforcement officers.” When one officer “calmly” asked McGrew to leave, McGrew yelled in response: “You leave. You leave. This is our house.”

9. Sean McHugh

Status: Charged with several federal offenses, including assaulting a law enforcement officer with a deadly or dangerous weapon

IMAGES (L to R): Close-up photograph of McHugh’s face; McHugh, circled in yellow, shooting officers with a yellow spray; McHugh scuffling with an officer in an attempt to defeat a barricade. (via Statement of Offense)

According to the Department of Justice, a Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officer’s body worn camera allegedly recorded McHugh “assaulting multiple U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) officers” on Jan. 6. The footage was recorded on the Capitol’s Lower West Terrace. In the audio portion, McHugh is heard saying: “You’re protecting communists!;” “There is a second amendment behind us, what are you going to do then?;” and “You ain’t holding the line!” McHugh is accused of helping to push a “large metal sign into a line of uniformed police officers.” While the crowd pushed the sign, he yelled through his megaphone: “Put it up there! Put it up there!”

A Statement of Offense, filed by an FBI Special Agent, contains images that allegedly show McHugh assaulting officers and inciting the crowd. Some of the screenshots allegedly show McHugh “shooting officers with a yellow spray,” which had been holstered at his right hip. These images have been collected online by seditionhunters.org.

Footage recorded by the MPD allegedly shows McHugh yelling into a megaphone: “You guys like protecting pedophiles?” According to CBS News and the New York Daily News, McHugh was previously convicted of statutory rape.

10. Jeffrey McKellop

Status: Charged with multiple crimes, including assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain law enforcement officers using a dangerous weapon, inflicting bodily injury

IMAGES (L to R): Close-up photograph of McKellop’s face; McKellop wearing ballistic armor and a protective mask; McKellop physically assaulting an MPD officer. (via Statement of Offense)

According to a Statement of Facts, McKellop is charged with assaulting four Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers with a flagpole outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. One of the officers McKellop allegedly assaulted is a sergeant who suffered a “laceration near the left eye.”

Witnesses identified McKellop as a retired U.S. Army Special Forces soldier and military contractor. And one of the witnesses told authorities that the “kit” McKellop wore, “specifically the helmet and ballistic vest,” was the “same gear” he wore in “an overseas combat zone in 2018.” He also wore a gas mask. The flagpole he carried had “at least two different types of flags attached,” one of which was styled after the “Betsy Ross” flag with the words “Trump. Keep America Great” printed on it, and the second a “Blue Line National Flag.”

The Statement of Facts cites multiple images from Jan. 6, including screenshots from video recorded on the U.S. Capitol Police’s (USCP) surveillance cameras, as well as MPD body worn cameras. The MPD footage allegedly captured McKellop assaulting officers.

11. Jonathan Mellis

Status: Charged with multiple crimes, including assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon

IMAGES (L to R): Mellis wearing a cowboy hat and black glasses; Collection of Facebook images posted by Mellis; Mellis repeatedly striking and making stabbing movements towards the officers with a stick in his hand. (via Statement of Facts)

According the Statement of Facts, Mellis posted on Facebook under an account named “Jon Gennaro.” One post, containing pictures of Mellison on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol and inside the west-facing entryway to the U.S. Capitol Building during the Jan. 6 attack, he captioned, “Storming the Castle.” He added several other sentences, such as: “We want a forensic audit of the vote” and “We will not go away. We will not surrender.” In another Facebook message, Mellis wrote: “Don’t you dare try to tell me that people are blaming this on antifa and BLM. We proudly take responsibility for storming the Castle.”

The Statement of Facts cites footage recorded by Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) body-worn cameras, as well as other images. Mellis allegedly took a stick from another individual, approached officers, and can be heard saying “Knock their masks off.” A video captures Mellis “repeatedly striking and making stabbing movements towards the officers with the weapon in his hand.” And Mellis “appears to be making at [sic] contact or attempting to strike the officers’ necks between their helmets and body-armor where they are not protected.” The FBI Special Agent who wrote the Statement of Facts adds: “Based on your affiant’s training and experience, forceful strikes to the neck with (or without) the aid of a weapon to enhance impact is more than sufficient to cause serious physical injury or death.”

12. Garret Miller

Status: Pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer, among other charges, and was sentenced to 38 months in prison

IMAGES (L to R): Miller wearing a pro-Trump hat, with a statue from the Rotunda behind him; Miller in a crowd, pushing past officers to gain entrance to the U.S. Capitol. (via Statement of Facts)

Miller, of Richardson, Texas, pleaded guilty to multiple charges in December 2022. According to the Justice Department’s summary of his case, Miller pleaded guilty to “assaulting a police officer,” making an “interstate threat to injure or kidnap,” and “three counts of interfering with law enforcement during a civil disorder,” among other charges.

Miller “was obsessed with the results of the 2020 presidential election” and believed “it had been stolen.” He traveled to Washington, D.C. with a “rope, a grappling hook, a mouth guard, and a bump cap,” which he described as “riot gear,” to “stop Congress’ certification of the 2020 presidential election.” Miller said he “looked forward” to fighting the “soft” people.

Miller “was at the forefront of every barrier overturned, police line overrun, and entryway breached within his proximity that day,” according to the DOJ. Officers detained Miller twice, but they released him after he vowed to leave. He stayed at the Capitol instead and “record[ed] himself talking about a revolution.” The DOJ says that Miller assaulted officers inside the U.S. Capitol’s Rotunda. He assaulted a Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Sergeant, and “engaged in a physical altercation with no fewer than six officers.”

On social media, Miller threatened Senator Charles Schumer, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Mark Zuckerburg, and Jack Dorsey. In response to Ocasio-Cortez’s social media post to “Impeach” Trump that day, Miller responded: “Assassinate AOC.” The DOJ says he boasted to his friends about how he “terrified [c]ongress” and wanted to “start assassinating” people. He also openly “discussed his desire” to find the officer who shot January 6 rioter Ashli Babbitt, and “hug his neck with a nice rope.” When he was arrested, Miller was wearing a shirt with former President Trump, as well as the words “I was there, Washington, D.C., January 6, 2021,” on it.

The Statement of Facts cites multiple images of Miller inside and outside the Capitol on January 6. Some of the images were posted by Miller himself on social media, including a Facebook photo of Miller standing next to another person inside the Capitol’s Rotunda. Other images were recorded by the U.S. Capitol Police’s (USCP) surveillance cameras. Miller’s social media presence was repeatedly cited as evidence against him. For example, he disputed those who claimed infiltrators, “not Patriots,” were responsible for the attack, tweeting: “Nah we stormed it.”

13. Jorden Mink

Status: Pleaded guilty to the felony charge of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon, as well as other charges

IMAGES (L to R): Mink using a baseball bat to shatter a window at the Capitol; Screenshot of an Instagram post, which features Mink holding a firearm. (via Affidavit)

Mink, of Oakdale, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to several charges in January 2023. According to the Justice Department’s summary of his case, Mink “used a baseball bat to shatter a window in the Capitol Building,” and also attempted to shatter “an adjacent window.” He climbed through the window he smashed and handed property from inside the Capitol to others outside. The DOJ cites video surveillance showing Mink engaged “in assaultive conduct, spitting at officers guarding one of the doors and then throwing several objects at them – including a traffic cone, a large rectangular-shaped object (possibly a step or drawer), and a stick.” Mink also used a “long pole” to “violently and repeatedly strike at the officers at” an entrance to the Capitol, “hitting their shields at least five times.”

In an affidavit, an FBI Special Agent cites publicly available video and images, including screenshots of Mink smashing a window on the U.S. Capitol and some of his Instagram posts.

14. Joseph Padilla

Status: Charged with multiple crimes, including assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon

IMAGES (L to R): Padilla wearing a scuba mask over his eyes and a black backpack on his back; Padilla, circled in red, grabbing a metal sign and using it as a battering ram against MPD officers; Padilla, highlighted in the red rectangle, throwing a flagpole at officers. (via Statement of Facts)

An FBI Special Agent’s Statement of Facts cites multiple images of Padilla on Jan. 6. Those images include screenshots from video recorded on Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers’ body-worn cameras, as well as from publicly available videos. Padilla allegedly pushed on a police barricade, shouting: “Push! Push! Fucking push!” He also allegedly helped other rioters use a large metal Trump sign as a “battering ram against” MPD officers who were “attempting to hold” a security line. Another video, taken from jrobertson.nyc, shows Padilla throwing a flagpole at officers stationed at the U.S. Capitol’s Lower West Terrace Doors.

The Statement of Facts cites Padilla’s social media posts on Facebook, as well as posts attributed to him on TheDonald.win. In a Jan. 7 Facebook post, Padilla disputed claims that “Antifa provacateurs [sic]” were responsible for the January 6th attack, writing “I just want to say that as a first hand observer of every point last night, that it was not Antifa.” He wrote that “Patriots who were trying to Restore the Republic” were responsible and blamed the cops for supposedly striking first. Padilla also allegedly made several incriminating posts on TheDonald.win, including one that read:

If we could have occupied the Capitol, we could have invoked the right given to us in the 2nd paragraph of the Declaration of Independence….We would have been in the Seat of Power. All we would need to do is declare our grievances with the government and dissolve the legislature, and replace it with Patriots who were there. Then simply re-adopt the Constitution with amendments added to secure future Federal elections.

As documented in Chapter 6 of the January 6th Select Committee’s final report, multiple users on TheDonald.win discussed “occupying” the Capitol prior to the joint session of Congress. They also openly planned for violence. TheDonald.win was a far-right superfan site for former President Trump.

15. Christopher Quaglin

Status: Charged with multiple crimes, including assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon

IMAGES (L to R): Close-up photograph of Quaglin’s face; Quaglin, highlighted in the red rectangle; using a stolen shield to push up against law enforcement officers; Quaglin, highlighted in the red rectangle, hitting an MPD officer with the stolen shield; A red arrow points to Quaglin, who physically pushes and wrestles with a USCP officer. (via Affidavit)

According to the Justice Department’s summary, Quaglin, of North Brunswick, NJ, allegedly assaulted “several” U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) and Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers on Jan. 6. The charging documents cite USCP surveillance video, footage recorded on MPD body-worn cameras, as well publicly available video. Quaglin was recorded approaching the police line and allegedly shouted at MPD officers, “You don’t want this fight. You do not want this f****** fight. You are on the wrong f****** side.”

Quaglin allegedly shoved “a USCP officer on the Lower West Terrace,” and then grabbed and pushed “the officer by the neck before working with other rioters to rip one of the barrier fences out of the hands of MPD officers.” Along with other rioters, he allegedly stole a riot shield. Quaglin “attacked police officers with the stolen riot shield and sprayed them with a chemical irritant also called OC spray.” He is accused of spraying “the chemical irritant at MPD and USCP officers,” including “directly into the face of an MPD officer who was not wearing a face shield or gas mask.” Quaglin “can later be seen at the front of the line pushing up against the same MPD Officer he sprayed with the chemical irritant.” Rioters yelled “heave ho” as they put “their collective mass behind Quaglin and others.” Quaglin remained on the frontline, “impeding police” until he was pushed out of the tunnel along with the other rioters.

In an affidavit, an FBI agent cites multiple images of Quaglin, who was wearing a “Make America Great Again hoodie,” a helmet with a camera affixed on top, and a gas mask. These images also allegedly show Quaglin assaulting officers. According to press reporting, Quaglin is a member of the Proud Boys.

16. Jeffrey Sabol

Status: Charged with multiple crimes, including assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon

IMAGE: Sabol, circled in red, holds an instrument believed to be a police officer’s baton across a police officer’s lower neck. (via Statement of Facts)

According to the Statement of Facts, Sabol and other rioters allegedly dragged an MPD officer “down the stairs of the Capitol building.” They forced the officer “into a prone position on the stairs and proceeded to forcibly and repeatedly strike” the officer “in the head and body with various objects.” The Statement of Facts and a summary on the DOJ’s website both point to a photo that allegedly shows Sabol “holding an instrument believed to be a police officer’s baton across the police officer’s lower neck while his left hand is pressed to the backside of the officer.” Sabol denied these charges, claiming he “covered the police officer for his own safety” while others hit the police officer with poles.

17. Peter Schwartz

Status: Convicted of several counts including assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement officers using a dangerous weapon; interfering with a law enforcement officer during a civil disorder; obstruction of an official proceeding, and related charges

IMAGES (L to R): Schwartz, circled in red, carrying a wooden baton in the midst of a large crowd of rioters near the tunnel arch; Schwartz, circled in red, extending his arm out to spray an orange substance directly at a group of officers. (via Statement of Facts)

Peter J. Schwartz, of Uniontown, Pennsylvania, was convicted at trial in December 2022. Schwartz, along with his wife Shelly Stallings, had traveled to Washington D.C. and were at the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol Building. According to the DOJ’s summary, Schwartz was at the front of the police line when he “threw a folding chair at officers,” and claimed to a friend that he “started a riot” by “throwing the first chair.” Schwartz “stole MPD duffle bags full of O.C. spray canisters, which he distributed to other members of the mob, including his wife, so that they could deploy them against the police.” Stallings pleaded guilty in August 2022.

“Wielding a large MK-46 canister and carrying a wooden tire thumper,” the DOJ summary continues, “Schwartz began indiscriminately spraying O.C. spray at any retreating police officers he could find.” At the Lower West Terrace tunnel, Schwartz gave a spray cannister to Markus Maly, who passed it to Jeffrey Brown. Brown couldn’t figure out how to use it at first. But Schwartz “appears to have shown Brown how to use it and passed it back.” Brown “then dove towards the front of the police line, spraying them with yet more OC spray.” Both Maly and Brown were convicted of assaulting officers as well.

The Statement of Facts cites screenshots from a publicly available video, which shows Schwartz spraying an orange substance at police officers.

18. Barton Shively

Status: Pleaded guilty to two counts of assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement officers

IMAGE: Shively speaks to the crowd, with a Three Percenter patch on his arm sleeve. (via CNN)

In Sept. 2022, Shively, of Mechanicsburg, PA, pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement officers. According to the DOJ’s summary, Shively attended the rally at the Ellipse on Jan. 6 and “then walked to the U.S. Capitol, where he unlawfully entered the grounds,” got past broken-down police barriers and went up the steps of the Capitol. Shively “assaulted one officer by striking the officer’s hand, and head and shoulder areas.” Shively “also assaulted another officer, grabbing the officer’s jacket and yelling at the officer.”

CNN interviewed Shively, a former U.S. Marine, near the U.S. Capitol on January 6. A screenshot of Shively speaking shows he had a Three Percenter patch on his arm sleeve. The Three Percenters are an anti-government militia movement. Its members believe, incorrectly, that just three percent of America’s colonial population overthrew British rule. Three Percenters also generally believe that the current U.S. government is illegitimate and deserves to be overthrown. As documented in Chapter 6 of the January 6th Select Committee’s final report, Three Percenters shared an “#OccupyCongress” meme prior to the joint session of Congress. Multiple Three Percenter groups planned for violence that day. Additional images of Barton Shively are available on the Sedition Hunters website.

19. Peter Stager

Status: Pleaded guilty to assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers using a deadly or dangerous weapon

IMAGES (L to R): Stager speaks to a crowd at the U.S. Capitol; Stager, highlighted in the red rectangle, holds a flagpole with an American flag attached; Stager, circled in red, climbs a set of stairs and uses a pole to repeatedly strike a police officer. (via Statement of Facts)

Stager, of Conway, Arkansas, pleaded guilty in February to assaulting a Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Officer on Jan. 6. According to the DOJ’s summary, Stager “repeatedly struck” the MPD Officer “with a flagpole while the officer was prone on the steps.” Others had already pulled the Officer down a flight of steps. On Jan. 6, Stager was recorded saying: “Everybody in there is a disgrace. That entire building is filled with treasonous traitors. Death is the only remedy for what’s in that building.” According to the DOJ, Stager was referring to everyone in the Capitol building. Stager added, “every single one of those Capitol law enforcement officers, death is the remedy, that is the only remedy they get.”

The Statement of Facts includes multiple images of Stager climbing the U.S. Capitol building stairs and attacking the MPD officer with a flagpole.

20. Jessica Watkins

Status: Convicted of several charges, including conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of an official proceeding, interfering with law enforcement officers during a civil disorder, and conspiracy to prevent an officer from discharging duties

IMAGE: Watkins, wearing a helmet, with a group of Oath Keepers. (via Affidavit)

Watkins, of Woodstock, Ohio, was convicted of several charges in November 2022. Her case has been widely covered in the media, as she was a member of the Oath Keepers. On Jan. 6, she joined other members of the group in forming two “stacks,” marching up the steps of the Capitol and then pushing their way into its Rotunda. While other members of the Oath Keepers, including the group’s leader, were convicted of seditious conspiracy, she was not. However, she was convicted of conspiring to obstruct an official proceeding, namely, the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, as well as other related charges.

An affidavit includes images of Watkins on Jan. 6, as well as screenshots from her posts on Parler, a right-wing social media site.

One of the co-authors, Norman Eisen, represents the District of Columbia in its civil action against the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers and some of their members for Jan. 6.

IMAGE: a collage of photos of the defendants held by the D.C. Department of Corrections on the day of the January 6 attack.

The post Profiles of the January 6th Inmates in the D.C. Jail appeared first on Just Security.

The Just Security Podcast: What the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers Don’t Want You to Know

Paras Shah — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 11:56:39 +0000

Two years after the January 6th attack, the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers – two of the groups that stormed the Capitol and tried to overturn an election – are on a mission. This time, their goal is more subtle but just as sinister. Although individual Proud Boys and Oath Keepers are on trial for conspiracy and a heap of other crimes, the federal government has been slow to call the groups extremists. In courtrooms, on Twitter, and in media reports the groups are trying to clean up their image, and people are buying it.

Today we’re going to explore how the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers use propaganda – calling themselves a “drinking club,” “patriots,” and “constitutionalists” – to control their own narrative and hide their violent, extremist views. Calling out these lies, and understanding how they work, is key to holding the groups accountable for the January 6th attack and exposing their continued messages of hate.

Joining us are Meghan Conroy and Jon Lewis. Meghan is a Fellow with the Digital Forensic Research Lab and a former Investigator with the January 6th Committee, where she focused on the role of social media in the Capitol attack. Jon is a Fellow at the Program on Extremism at George Washington University, where he studies domestic and homegrown extremism. They wrote a recent Just Security piece analyzing the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers propaganda efforts and why they’ve been successful so far.

Listen to the podcast (transcript available as well) by clicking below.

The post The Just Security Podcast: What the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers Don’t Want You to Know appeared first on Just Security.

The Proud Boys and Oath Keepers Are Domestic Terrorists, It’s Past Time to Call Them What They Are

Meghan Conroy — Tue, 07 Mar 2023 13:55:22 +0000

During opening statements in the seditious conspiracy trial of Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio, his defense attorney claimed that the Proud Boys are merely a “drinking club” and added that it is simply untrue that the organization is racist, sexist, or homophobic. But Tarrio and his fellow Proud Boys are all of those things. Indeed, the Proud Boys are a fascist street gang whose members stand accused of conspiring to prevent the peaceful transfer of presidential power on Jan. 6, 2021. Multiple Proud Boys have been charged with leading and participating in the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Some have already pleaded guilty. On one social media account, Tarrio himself cheered on the January 6th attack, telling his men and others not to leave the Capitol. According to court filings, Tarrio even boasted in an encrypted chat: “Make no mistake… We did this.”

None of this will stop the Proud Boys, or their lawyers, from trying to soften the group’s public image. Nor should anyone be fooled. As we discuss extremists and the ideas that mobilize them, bad faith actors cannot be allowed to control the narratives around dangerous and violent goals, ideologies, or actions. No one – including elected officials, government agencies, reporters, or researchers – should take their self-serving descriptions at face value. This article highlights several of the numerous instances of domestic terrorists attempting to promote and rehabilitate their own public image since the Jan. 6th attack, and argues that it is important to reject these bad-faith arguments and call out the groups’ propaganda efforts.

Media Coverage of Extremist Groups Impacts How the Public Perceives Them

The Proud Boys’ seditious conspiracy trial comes on the heels of other significant media coverage of domestic extremism. In recent months, the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol released its final report and supporting materials. As the two-year anniversary of the attack came and went, Oath Keepers founder and president Stewart Rhodes, alongside several of his key lieutenants, were convicted of conspiring to prevent the peaceful transfer of presidential power. These events have led to new scrutiny of extremist groups and how to best combat them.

In a media landscape where reader attention is hard to get and even harder to keep, reporters covering extremism must explain complex narratives and ideologies into digestible, compelling sound bites and blurbs. But the words that national and local news outlets, government officials, and researchers use matter, whether they are covering the attack on the U.S. Capitol or analyzing the white supremacist mass shooting at the Tops Supermarket in Buffalo, New York. Years of problematic analysis and public coverage on the far-right ecosystem were directly responsible for the rise of groups like the Proud Boys. In that same vein, government blind spots in the buildup to Jan. 6th have underscored the real-world implications of underestimating the seriousness of this threat going forward.

Two key considerations should be kept in mind as we analyze extremist groups and individuals. First, extremists lie: they use coded language, dog whistles, memefication, and trolling to intentionally obfuscate their viewpoints and motivations. We saw this most recently when Proud Boys member Jeremy Bertino admitted at trial that he lied to the Jan. 6th Committee in his deposition. Second, they are effective propagandists who frequently employ strategic messaging to radicalize and recruit; this messaging is frequently facilitated by social media platforms and traditional media outlets. Extremists intentionally seek out media attention for their own benefit, recognizing that there is a net positive in contaminating the broader information ecosystem. As a result, researchers and reporters must interrogate their messages to avoid reiterating the groups’ slogans or characterizations of themselves, lest we spread their propaganda for them. Critically engaging with what extremists say and do – rather than taking them at their word – is paramount in preventing extremists and their beliefs from becoming accepted by mainstream audiences. This starts with calling these groups what they are and refusing to platform violent extremists and their conspiratorial narratives.

The Proud Boys Are Fascists, Not a “Drinking Club”

In his February 2022 deposition before the Jan. 6th Committee, Tarrio repeatedly attempted to launder familiar talking points concerning the Proud Boys’ plan for the January 6th attack and their broader belief system. Foreshadowing his defense strategy at his federal trial, Tarrio whitewashed the Proud Boys’ reputation in his deposition, claiming “we’re usually a very happy bunch. Just, like, [our] focus is on hanging out, drinking with the boys.” Indeed, members of the group regularly characterize themselves as a patriotic boys’ club that is focused on drinking, as if their occasional street brawls with antifa or Black Lives Matter activists happen almost by chance.

However, ample evidence has demonstrated that the Proud Boys actively seek out violence and reject multiracial democracy. At their core, the Proud Boys are fascists, full stop. While they attempt to cultivate a softer public-facing image in order to evade accusations of fascism, time and time again, the Proud Boys’ actions align with fascistic principles. The organization’s activities on Jan. 6th, in which they conspired to subvert the democratic process, led to their designation as a terrorist entity in both Canada and New Zealand. But the Jan. 6th attack was merely one instance of the Proud Boys’ use of political violence in furtherance of their goals, as the group has continued to mobilize against their perceived enemies in the two years since the Capitol storming.

And while the Proud Boys – and many who research, study, and report on them – often characterize the group as “Western chauvinists,” this phrase is rarely scrutinized. When asked how he would define Western chauvinism, Tarrio told the Jan. 6th Committee that “‘chauvinism’ just means extreme patriotism,” which he described as “loving this country and its many, many diverse hues.” The Proud Boys have repeatedly claimed their organization cannot be white supremacist merely because they have members of color among their ranks and leadership, including Tarrio, who is Afro-Cuban. But make no mistake: this narrative is deliberately misleading. The group’s founder, Gavin McInnes, has frequently espoused white supremacist narratives and since their inception, the Proud Boys have consistently sought to stoke racial tensions. Tarrio was arrested prior to the January 6th attack for burning a D.C. church’s Black Lives Matter banner, an act designed to deliberately provoke the Proud Boys’ perceived enemies.

As described in the Jan. 6th Committee’s opening hearing, the Proud Boys use violence against political enemies and promote white supremacy. Their private communications and overt acts – before, during, and after January 6 – make this point abundantly clear; even as they attempt to distance themselves from this reality, the group functions as a permeable barrier to overly neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups. The group has aligned itself with various neo-Nazi networks, “White Lives Matter” campaigns, and groups like NSC-131 and Rise Above Movement. The Proud Boys are a chapter-based group, and several of its largest, most influential factions openly adhere to neo-Nazism or white supremacist beliefs. Therefore, we should not simply repeat the Proud Boys messages or simply regurgitate claims that the group is nothing more than “Western chauvinists.” To do so only facilitates the mainstreaming of the organization and its fundamentally dangerous ideology.

The Oath Keepers Are Anti-Government Extremists, Not Patriots

Just as the Proud Boys attempt to hide their fascist agenda, the Oath Keepers seek to reframe their virulent anti-government extremism through a lens of twisted “patriotism.” In his deposition before the Jan. 6th Committee, now-convicted seditionist Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes tried to strategically frame his organization in a way that is at-odds with reality. For example, Rhodes testified that he views himself merely as “a constitutionalist” and that his purportedly nonpartisan group attracted individuals of every political walk of life “because they stand on the common ground of the Constitution.” Rhodes has long attempted to situate his group as one composed of constitutionalists who oppose government tyranny. But the Oath Keepers, well beyond jingoism, portray their enemies as de facto traitors and legitimate targets for political violence. The Jan. 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol was a natural consequence of their warped worldview. The Oath Keepers sought to forcefully obstruct the peaceful transfer of power, believing that then President-elect Joe Biden and his supporters were the real traitors. Rhodes’ “constitutionalists” therefore turned against the American principles they claimed they wanted to protect.

The Oath Keepers’ ideology has also evolved in recent years. The group was once preoccupied with a seemingly inevitable conflict with the federal government, but its members have increasingly focused on a broad range of actors on the political left – from antifa to Black Lives Matter to anyone viewed as a “cultural Marxist.” Any one of these parties could be deemed valid targets in the supposedly imminent civil war. In this vein, the Oath Keepers’ own rhetoricin the lead-up to the Jan. 6th attack shows a group fixated on an impending battle for the fate of the country. For instance, Stewart Rhodes claimed that the 2020 presidential election was stolen by the “Communist Chinese and their domestic enemy allies,” including the “illegitimate puppet, Joe Biden.” In Rhodes’ view, the entire American left is nothing more than an extension of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). While Rhodes’ claims are obviously unsubstantiated, that doesn’t make them any less dangerous; at least several of his fellow Oath Keepers joined him in conspiring against their own government in a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol.

That said, there can still be value in listening to what extremists have to say. Their public appearances, social media posts, and private communications can help us understand what motivates them and what actions they may take next. But their words must always be placed in proper context, especially as they attempt to rehabilitate their reputation and avoid harsh sentencing in the wake of the Jan. 6th attack. As terrorism relies heavily upon propaganda of the deed, those who study and report on them should also evaluate extremists based on their actions – especially when those deeds contradict their stated goals. After all, the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6th are not merely drinking buddies, patriots, or constitutionalists. They are violent extremists who reject American democracy and have no issue with taking up arms against perceived enemies. We must recognize them for what they are, rather than what they call themselves. We cannot afford them the power to tell their version of history.

IMAGE: Tennessee State Police stand between members of the Proud Boys and counter protestors during a protest against gender-affirming care by Vanderbilt University Medical Center, at the War Memorial Plaza in Nashville, Tennessee, on Oct. 21, 2022. (Photo by Seth Herald / AFP via Getty Images)

The post The Proud Boys and Oath Keepers Are Domestic Terrorists, It’s Past Time to Call Them What They Are appeared first on Just Security.